MARGARET  FULLER 
AND  GOETHE 


THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF  A  REMARKABLE  PERSONAL 
ITY,  HER  RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY,  AND  HER 
RELATION  TO  EMERSON,   J.  F.  CLARKE 
AND  TRANSCENDENTALISM 


BY 

FREDERICK  AUGUSTUS  BRAUN 

(A.M.,  Harvard;  Ph.  D.,  Univ.  of  III.) 
Instructor  in  German  in  The  State  University  of  Iowa 


Submitted    in    partial    fulfillment    of    the    require 
ments  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 
in  German  in  the  Graduate   School   of 
the  University  of  Illinois. 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
1910 


COPYRIGHT,   1910 

BY 
HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 


£7 


PREFACE 


Just  a  century  ago,  in  1810,  was  born  one  of 
America's  most  remarkable  women,  if  not  the 
most  remarkable  one,  Margaret  Fuller.  This 
book  therefore  comes  as  a  centenary  tribute  to 
her  memory. 

Several  writers  and  critics,  among  them 
Edward  Everett  Hale  and  T.  W.  Higginson, 
have  tried  to  account  for  the  very  strange  fact 
that  Margaret  Fuller  is  not  better  known  gen 
erally  to  the  students  and  readers  of  American 
literature.  That  she  deserves  a  much  more  hon 
orable  place  in  the  history  of  the  development  of 
our  thought  and  literature  than  the  rather  humble 
one  which  has  thus  far  been  assigned  to  her,  has 
been  felt  by  all  who  have  studied  her  interesting 
career  and  become  acquainted  with  her  extraor 
dinary  intellect  and  activities.  In  fact,  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  understand  the  whole  creative  period  of  our 
literature  without  taking  into  account  her  signifi 
cant  role  in  the  whole  mo vement,andthe powerful 
influence  she  exerted  upon  our  greatest  American 


217082 


vi  PREFACE 

thinkers  and  most  noted  literary  men  of  that  im 
portant  period.  It  is  the  hope  of  the  short  in 
troductory  chapter  of  the  present  work  to  bring 
to  light,  in  a  somewhat  concise  treatment,  her  true 
relation  to  some  of  these  great  men  and  to  the 
period  in  which  she  lived  and  acted. 

The  chief  aim  of  the  present  work,  neverthe 
less,  is  to  trace  the  inner  development  of  the  pow 
erful  personality  of  this  interesting  woman,  and  to 
search  out  the  sources  of  her  growth  and  the 
foundation  for  her  religious  convictions  and  her 
conceptions  of  life.  What  influence  she  exerted 
among  her  countrymen  in  disseminating  the  con 
victions  to  which  she  held  and  how  she  interpreted 
and  defended  their  author,  Goethe,  also  deserves 
attention.  Some  space  is  therefore  given  to  this 
phase  of  the  subject. 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  gratitude  and 
indebtedness  to  Professor  Julius  Goebel,  the  head 
of  the  Department  of  German  in  the  University 
of  Illinois.  It  was  upon  his  recommendation  and 
with  the  help  of  his  valuable  suggestions  that 
this  work  was  undertaken  and  written.  To  Pro 
fessor  Stuart  P.  Sherman,  of  the  Department  of 
English  in  the  University  of  Illinois,  who  read  the 
present  work  in  its  original  draft,  and  offered 


PREFACE  vii 

many  valuable  criticisms,  the  writer  desires  to 
express  his  most  hearty  thanks.  The  writer  also 
desires  to  thank  Professor  John  A.  Walz,  Chair 
man  of  the  Department  of  Germanic  Language 
and  Literature  at  Harvard  University,  for.  his 
kindly  interest  in  the  author  during  the  years  he 
spent  at  Harvard,  and  for  the  suggestions  offered 
in  the  prosecution  of  this  work.  The  writer 
furthermore  owes  his  thanks  to  Dr.  Frederick  W. 
C.  Lieder,  Instructor  in  German  in  Harvard  Uni 
versity,  for  his  friendly  assistance  in  securing 
some  of  the  books  necessary  for  this  study.  Grat 
itude  is  also  expressed  for  the  assistance  given 
the  writer  by  Miss  Edith  D.  Fuller,  the  niece  of 
Margaret  Fuller;  and  also  for  the  courtesies  of 
the  authorities  of  the  Boston  Public  Library, 
Messrs.  Whitney  and  Wheeler,  especially,  who 
permitted  the  writer  to  read  the  entire  collection 
of  the  Margaret  Fuller  manuscripts  deposited  in 
the  Boston  Public  Library,  and  to  make  copious 
extracts  from  them.  The  writer  is  also  indebted 
to  the  various  publishers  who  own  the  copyrights 
to  works  from  which  he  has  quoted.  The  refer 
ences  to  these  works  are  always  given  in  the  foot 
notes. 

F.  A.  B. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 
AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER    I 

CHAPTER  I 

EARLY    EDUCATION     19 

CHAPTER  II 

STUDY  OF  GERMAN.      THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MARGARET  FULLER'S 

INNER    LIFE     41 

CHAPTER  III 

RELIGION   AND  PHILOSOPHY  OF   LIFE    71 

CHAPTER  IV 

DEFENSE   OF  GOETHE    148 

CHAPTER  V 

INTERPRETATION,  CRITICISM  AND  TRANSLATION  OF  GOETHE 174 

CONCLUSION     242 

MARGARET  FULLER^  RELIGIOUS  CREED.      APPENDIX 247 

BIBLIOGRAPHY     2$9 

INDEX     263 


NOTE 

The  titles  of  the  following  works  referred  to 
in  the  footnotes  are  abbreviated  thus : 

Memoirs:  Memoirs  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  by 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  William  Henry  Channing,  and 
James  Freeman  Clarke. 

Margaret  Fuller  MSS.:  Manuscript  letters  and  papers 
of  Margaret  Fuller  in  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

Expressions  in  parentheses  are  from  the  author  quoted ; 
those  in  brackets  are  made  by  the  writer. 


UNIVERSIT 

Of 

UFORI 


MARGARET  FULLER  AND 
GOETHE 

AN  INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  influential  char 
acters  in  the  history  of  American  literature  is  Mar 
garet  Fuller.  She  was  a  leader  in  the  great  move 
ment  which  during  the  fourth  and  fifth  decades  of 
the  last  century  freed  American  Literature  from 
a  mere  slavish  imitation  of  European — chiefly 
English — models,  and  established  it  on  a  firm  basis 
in  our  own  country.  The  company  of  young 
writers  who  inaugurated  this  movement  insisted 
that  our  poets  and  writers  should  take  American 
themes  and  give  them  an  original  treatment,  local 
coloring,  and  an  American  setting.  Moreover, 
like  Goethe  and  Schiller,  Margaret  Fuller  as 
leader  of  this  same  group  of  thinkers,  insisted  with 
them  that  poetry  should  have  it's  foundations  deep 
in  personal  experience,  in  life  itself — that  it  should 
flow  from  the  human  heart,  and  not  be  a  mere 
product  of  the  intellect.1  Finally,  she  did,  in  all 

1  Art,  Literature  and  the  Drama,  p.  306. 


2          AN   INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

probability,  more  than  any  other  writer  or  critic  to 
bring  the  Americans  to  a  fair  appreciation  and  es 
timation  of  the  rich  literature  of  Germany,  espe 
cially  that  of  Goethe,  who,  as  Emerson  has  well 
said,  is  "the  pivotal  mind  in  modern  literature,  for 
all  before  him  are  ancients,  and  all  who  have  read 
him  are  moderns."1 

The  history  of  her  influence  coincides  with  the 
history  of  her  personal  development,  which  it  will 
be  the  purpose  of  the  following  chapters  to 
develop.  First  to  be  considered  is  her  early  Puri 
tan  education,  with  its  one-sidedness,  and  its  moral 
and  religious  rigorism,  developing  the  intellect 
alone,  and  neglecting  altogether  the  education  of 
the  heart,  the  truly  human  side  of  character.  It 
will  be  shown  how  she  rebelled  against  the  Puri 
tan  church  dogma,  which  seemed  to  have  nothing 
in  common  with  her  inner  life,  and  how  she 
longed  for  a  harmonious  development  of  her 
whole  being  and  nature,  intellectual  and  emotional, 
through  a  full  experience  in  life.  We  shall  see  how 
she  found  in  Goethe,  "the  great  apostle  of  individ 
ual  culture/'2  as  she  calls  him,  the  means  for  such 
a  development  as  she  wished;  how  her  nature,  her 
soul  expanded  and  she  grew  to  be  the  strong  per- 

1  Memoirs,  I.   242. 

~  W 'oman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  124. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER          3 

sonality  she  was.  It  will  be  shown  how  she  ac 
cepted  and  lived  out,  to  a  very  large  extent, 
Goethe's  religious  and  philosophical  doctrines  of 
life;  how  she  interpreted  Goethe  and  his  works 
and  defended  him  against  the  severe  criticism  and 
prejudices  of  many  of  her  countrymen;  and  finally, 
how  she  wielded  a  powerful  influence  in  favor  of 
a  general  study  of  German  among  the  cultured  of 
New  England,  and  through  them  among  the  edu 
cated  over  the  whole  country. 


MARGARET  FULLER'S  PLACE  IN  AMERICAN  LITERA 
TURE 

Margaret  Fuller's  influence  and  strong  person 
ality  were  probably  felt  for  the  first  time  in  connec 
tion  with  a  club  which  had  for  one  of  its  chief  aims 
the  liberation  and  deepening  of  American  litera 
ture.  This  literary  club  had  its  beginning  prob 
ably  as  early  as  1833,  and  comprised  finally  in  its 
membership  the  entire  knot  of  original  young 
thinkers  then  in  New  England.  It  contained  on  its 
list  such  names  as  Emerson,  F.  H.  Hedge,  George 
Ripley,  Alcott,  Theodore  Parker,  W.  H.  Chan- 
ning,  J.  F.  Clarke,  Elizabeth  P.  Peabody,  and 


4          AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

later  Thoreau.1  The  club  was  called  by  various 
names,  none  of  which,  on  account  of  the  diversity 
of  the  views  of  its  members,  seemed  exactly  to  fit. 
It  was  called  "The  Transcendental  Club,"  "The 
Symposium  Club,"  and  occasionally  "The  Hedge 
Club,"  because  the  dates  of  its  monthly  meetings 
were  arranged  to  suit  Dr.  Hedge's  visits  to  Boston 
from  his  home  in  Bangor,  Maine. 

That  Margaret  Fuller  was  an  active  member 
of  the  club  from  the  very  beginning,  and  a  recog 
nized  leader  and  guiding  spirit,  is  the  testimony  of 
all  her  biographers.  She,  too,  was  the  leader  in 
the  famous  Boston  "Conversations,"  and  later  be 
came  editor  of  the  Dial,  the  organ  and  mouthpiece 
of  the  whole  "storm  and  stress"  movement  in 
American  thought  and  literature.  Mr.  Higginson 
writes  in  his  biography  of  her :  "Apart  from  every 
word  she  ever  wrote,  Margaret  Fuller  will  always 
be  an  important  figure  in  American  history,  for 
this  plain  reason:  that  she  was  the  organizer  and 
executive  force  of  the  first  thoroughly  Amer 
ican  literary  enterprise  [The  D'ial~\"  So  im 
portant  is  this  magazine  that  we  must  go  to 
it  to  determine  the  real  weight  of  this  whole 

1  For  a  more  comprehensive  description  of  this  club  see  Higgin 
son,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  pp.  130  ff. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER  5 

literary  and  philosophical  movement.  It  is  the 
only  authentic  record.  "To  know  what  Emerson 
individually  was,"  continues  Mr.  Higginson,  "we 
can  go  to  his  books;  it  is  the  same  with  Parker, 
Thoreau,  Alcott.  But  what  it  was  that  united 
these  diverse  elements,  what  was  their  central 
spirit,  what  their  collective  strength  or  weakness, 
their  maximum  and  minimum,  their  high  and  low 
water  mark,  this  must  be  sought  in  the  'Dial'. 
That  was  the  alembic  within  which  they  were  all 
distilled,  and  the  priestess  who  superintended  this 
intellectual  chemic  process.  .  .  .  Margaret  Ful- 
er."  x  Professor  Trent  in  his  American  Litera 
ture  says  of  the  Dial:  "Most  important  of  all  it 
gave  a  new  impetus  and  in  some  ways  a  new  direc 
tion  to  literary  energy,  especially  in  New  Eng 
land."  2  * 

Concerning  the  quality  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
writing  and  her  power  as  a  critic,  Mr.  Higginson 
says:  "First  she  excelled  in  'lyric  glimpses',  or 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  130. 

2  Trent,  American  Literature,  p.  318. 

*  In  what  a  noble  and  true  spirit  of  patriotism  she  accomplished 
this  great  service  for  the  literature  of  our  country,  and  with 
what  a  sacrifice  to  herself,  may  be  seen  when  we  consider  that 
she  was  promised  for  editing  the  Dial,  only  two  hundred  dollars 
a  year,  which  were  probably  never  paid  her;  since  the  other 
expenses  of  the  magazine  were  about  equal  to  the  income  from 
subscriptions.  Still  she  writes  in  a  letter:  "It  is  for  dear  New 
England  that  I  want  this  review." — Memoirs,  II.  26. 


6          AN   INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

the  power  of  putting  a  high  thought  into  a  sen 
tence.  .  .  .  She  seems  to  me  to  have  been,  in 
the  second  place,  the  best  literary  critic  whom 
America  has  yet  seen".1  A.  Bronson  Alcott  writes 
of  her  in  1839:  "She  has  a  deeper  insight  into 
character  than  any  of  her  contemporaries,  and  will 
enrich  our  literature."  2 

Horace  Greeley's  estimation  of  Margaret  Ful 
ler  was  that  she  was  "one  whom  impartial  judg 
ment  must  pronounce  the  most  capable  and  note 
worthy  American  woman  the  world  has  yet 
known;  "  and  of  her  works:  "I  believe  the  writ 
ings  of  no  other  woman  were  ever  so  uniformly 
worthy  of  study  and  preservation."  3 

If  Margaret  Fuller  were  considered  only  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  great  influence  she  exerted 
upon  the  lives  of  our  greatest  American  authors 
and  thinkers,  that  alone  ought  to  insure  her  a 
high  place  in  the  history  of  American  thought  and 
letters. 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  the  great  Unitarian 
preacher  and  writer,  says  of  her:  "The  difficulty 
which  we  all  feel  in  describing  our  past  intercourse 
and  friendship  with  Margaret  Fuller,  is,  that  the 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  pp.  288,  290. 

3  Ibid.,   p.   148. 

*  Introduction  to  Papers  on  Literature  and  Art,  pp.  I  f. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER  7 

intercourse  was  so  intimate,  and  the  friendship  so 
personal,  that  it  is  like  making  a  confession  to  the 
public  of  our  most  interior  selves.  For  this  noble 
person,  by  her  keen  insight  and  her  generous  in 
terest,  entered  into  the  depth  of  every  soul  with 
which  she  stood  in  any  real  relation.  To  print  one 
of  her  letters,  is  like  giving  an  extract  from  our 
own  private  journal."  The  same  author  bears 
witness  to  Margaret  Fuller's  great  power  in  bring 
ing  out  that  which  was  best  and  highest  in  every 
person  who  came  under  her  strong  influence:  "I 
am  disposed  to  think,  much  as  she  excelled  in  gen 
eral  conversation,  that  her  greatest  mental  efforts 
were  made  in  intercourse  with  individuals.  All 
her  friends  will  unite  in  the  testimony,  that  what 
ever  they  may  have  known  of  wit  and  eloquence  in 
others,  they  have  never  seen  one  who,  like  her, 
by  the  conversation  of  an  hour  or  two,  could  not 
merely  entertain  and  inform,  but  make  an  epoch  in 
one's  life.  We  all  dated  .back  to  this  or  that  con 
versation  with  Margaret,  in  which  we  took  a  com 
plete  survey  of  great  subjects,  came  to  some  clear 
view  of  a  difficult  question,  saw  our  way  open  be 
fore  us  to  a  higher  plane  of  life,  and  were  led  to 
some  definite  resolution  or  purpose  which  has  had 

1  Memoirs,  I.   61. 


8          AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

a  bearing  on  ail  our  subsequent  career."  *  In  a 
letter  to  T.  W.  Higginson,  thirty  years  later,  Mr. 
Clarke  again  writes  (May  15,  1883)  :  "Margaret 
had  so  many  aspects  to  her  soul  that  she  might 
furnish  material  for  a  hundred  biographers,  and 
all  could  not  be  said  even  then."  2 

W.  H.  Channing,  another  one  of  her  noted 
biographers,  bears  testimony  to  this  same  ability  of 
Margaret  Fuller  to  enter  into  the  most  intimate 
and  beautiful  relationship  with  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  lives  of  those  with  whom  she  was  asso 
ciated.  "I  have  no  hope,"  he  says,  "of  convey 
ing  to  readers  my  sense  of  the  beauty  of  our  re 
lation,  as  it  lies  in  the  past  with  brightness  falling 
on  it  from  Margaret's  risen  spirit.  It  would  be 
like  printing  a  chapter  of  auto-biography,  to  de 
scribe  what  is  so  grateful  in  memory,  its  influence 
upon  one's  self."  3 

The  fact  that  a  man  like  Emerson  became  one 
of  her  most  enthusiastic  admirers  and  biographers 
is,  in  itself,  an  unassailable  proof  of  her  high  posi 
tion  and  importance.  No  one  speaks  of  her  pow 
erful  influence  in  more  unmistakable  language  than 
he  as  he  describes  her  relation  to  him.  No  one 

1  Memoirs,  I.  107. 

'Margaret  Fuller  MSS.     Boston  Public  Library. 

*  Memoirs,  II.  9. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER  9 

bears  more  positive  proof  of  her  high  place  among 
the  thinkers  and  literary  leaders  of  his  time.  In 
his  masterly  analysis  of  her  mind  and  character, 
which  Horace  Greeley  said,  was  "entitled  to  the 
praise  of  being  the  frankest,  fairest,  most  ef 
fective  biography  of  our  day,"  1  Emerson  sounds 
the  deepest  recesses  of  the  heart  of  this  notable 
woman  and  seeks  to  discover  the  sources  of  the 
influence  she  wielded  and  the  power  that  flowed 
from  her  soul.*  Of  her  personal  influence  on  the 
great  minds  about  her,  Emerson  says:  "She  wore 
this  circle  of  friends,  when  I  first  knew  her,  as  a 
necklace  of  diamonds  about  her  neck.  They  were 
so  much  to  each  other,  that  Margaret  seemed  to 
represent  them  all,  and,  to  know  her,  was  to  ac 
quire  a  place  with  them.  The  confidences  given  her 
were  their  best,  and  she  held  them  to  them.  She 
was  an  active,  inspiring  companion  and  corres 
pondent,  and  all  the  art,  the  thought,  and  the 
nobleness  in  New  England,  seemed,  at  that  mo 
ment,  related  to  her,  and  she  to  it."3 

Concerning  the  many  conversations  that  Mar- 

1  Introduction  to  Papers  on  Literature  and  Art,  p.  i. 

*It  is  rather  strange  that  this  biography,  so  much  praised  by 
Greeley,  and  as  it  seems  to  me,  one  of  the  best  products  of 
Emerson's  mind  in  his  great  power  of  analyzing  human  char 
acter,  has  to  my  knowledge,  never  been  republished  among  his 
collected  works. 

8  Memoirs,  I.  213. 


io        AN   INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

garet  Fuller  held  with  Emerson,  as  after  dinner 
they  read,  or  walked,  or  rode,  during  the  weeks 
she  spent  every  year  at  Emerson's  home,  he 
writes:  "They  interested  me  in  every  manner; 
talent,  memory,  wit,  stern  introspection,  poetic 
play,  religion,  the  finest  personal  feeling,  the  as 
pects  of  the  future,  each  followed  each  in  full 
activity,  and  left  me,  I  remember,  enriched  and 
sometimes  astonished  by  the  gifts  of  my  guest. 
Her  topics  were  numerous,  but  the  cardinal  points 
of  poetry,  love,  and  religion,  were  never  far  off. 
.  .  .  She  was  familiar  with  all  the  field  of  ele 
gant  criticism  in  literature."1  "The  day  was  never 
long  enough,"  Emerson  writes  again,  "to  exhaust 
her  opulent  memory;  and  I,  who  knew  her  inti 
mately  for  ten  years,  from  July,  1836,  to  August, 
1846,  when  she  sailed  for  Europe,  never  saw  her 
without  surprise  at  her  new  powers."2 

Finally,  a  passage  from  Emerson's  journal 
shows  the  weight  of  the  influence  she  exercised 
upon  this  our  greatest  American  thinker  and  phi 
losopher:  "I  have  no  friend,"  says  he,  "whom  I 
more  wish  to  be  immortal  than  she.  An  influence 
I  cannot  spare,  but  would  always  have  at  hand 
for  recourse."3 

'Memoirs,  I.  217  f.     2 Ibid.,  I.  214  f.     3  Margaret  Fuller  MSS. 


AN   INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER         11 

In  1846  on  her  tour  through  England  and 
Scotland  Margaret  Fuller  visited  Carlyle  and 
his  wife  in  their  home.  In  spite  of  Carlyle's 
impression  that  Margaret  Fuller  was  sometimes 
narrow,  which  was  probably  due  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  she  opposed  him  in  some  of  his  views,  he 
saw  the  rare  qualities  of  her  heart  and  mind.1  He 
wrote  of  her  to  Emerson :  "Margaret  is  an  excel 
lent  soul:  in  real  regard  with  both  of  us  here 
[Carlyle  and  his  wife].  Since  she  went,  I  have 
been  reading  some  of  her  Papers  in  a  new  Book  we 
have  got:  greatly  superior  to  all  I  knew  before;  in 
fact  the  undeniable  utterances  (now  first  undeni 
able  to  me)  of  a  true  heroic  mind;  altogether 
unique,  so  far  as  I  know  among  the  Writing 
Women  of  this  generation;  rare  enough  too,  God, 
knows,  among  the  writing  Men.  She  is  very  nar 
row,  sometimes ;  but  she  is  truly  high :  honor  to 
Margaret,  and  more  and  more  good-speed  to 
her."2 

This  testimony  from  so  many  diverse  sources 
establishes  once  for  all,  Margaret  Fuller's  power 
ful  influence  upon  some  of  our  greatest  thinkers 
and  our  most  famous  literary  men;  it  fixes  the  high 

1  See  At  Home  and  Abroad,  pp.  183  ff. 

3  The  Correspondence   of   Thomas   Carlyle  and  Ralph    Waldo 
Emerson,  1834-1872,  Boston,  1888,  Vol.  II.,  p.  155. 


12        AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

position  she  held  in  this,  the  most  important 
movement — the  creative  period — in  American 
literature. 

How  much  credit  is  due  to  the  band  of  young 
reformers,  among  whom  Margaret  Fuller  was  a 
guiding  spirit,  may  be  seen  when  we  consider  the 
conditions  in  which  they  found  our  literature  and 
what  they  did  to  elevate  it.  Our  literature  during 
the  third  and  fourth  decades  of  the  last  century 
was  still  in  the  first  stages  of  its  making.  It  is  true 
that  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  Irving,  and  Cooper 
had  written  a  few  novels  and  sketches  of  real 
merit;  yet,  on  the  whole,  our  literature  was  char 
acterized,  as  Margaret  Fuller  has  well  said,  by  a 
"half  boastful,  half  timid,  boyish  crudity."  1  It 
lacked  real  virile  power  and  the  positive  national 
stamp.  What  made  conditions  still  worse  was  that 
the  few  writers  who  possessed  some  talent  sought 
their  inspiration  abroad  and  wrote  in  the  spirit  of 
imitation.  Margaret  Fuller  writing  in  the  Dial  of 
this  false  tendency  said:  "Some  thinkers  may  ob 
ject  to  this  essay,  that  we  are  about  to  write  of  that 
which  has,  as  yet,  no  existence.  For  it  does  not 
follow  because  many  books  are  written  by  per 
sons  born  in  America  that  there  exists  an  Amer- 

1  Memoirs,  II.  7.    Art,  Literature,  and  the  Drama,  p.  298. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER         13 

lean  Literature.  Books  which  imitate  or  repre 
sent  the  thoughts  and  life  of  Europe  do  not  consti 
tute  an  American  literature."1 

Even  Longfellow  was  among  those  who  were 
of  the  candid  opinion  that  our  literature  was  to  be 
of  a  conglomerate  or  composite  nature,  merely 
uniting  within  itself  all  the  foreign  elements  rep 
resented  in  this  country;  nothing  more.  As 
late  as  1847  he  writes  in  his  journal:  "Much 
is  said  now-a-days  of  a  national  literature.  Does 
it  mean  anything?  Such  a  literature  is  the  expres 
sion  of  national  character.  We  have,  or  shall 
have,  a  composite  one,  embracing  French,  Spanish, 
Irish,  English,  Scotch,  and  German  peculiarities. 
Whoever  has  within  himself  most  of  these  is  our 
truly  national  writer."2  Again,  somewhat  earlier, 
(1844)  he  writes  in  a  letter:  "Vast  forests,  lakes, 
and  prairies  cannot  make  great  poets.  They  are 
but  the  scenery  of  the  play,  and  have  much  less 
to  do  with  the  poetic  character  than  has  been 
imagined."3  It  did  not  occur  to  Longfellow  until 
much  later — until  he,  himself,  had  turned  his 
poetic  talent  definitely  to  native  American  themes 

1  Art,  Literature  and  the  Drama,  p.  298. 

'Life    of   Henry    Wadsworth    Longfellow.     Boston    and    New 
York,  1893.    Vol.  II.  73  f. 
3  Ibid,  II.  19  f. 


I4        AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

— that  among  new  scenes,  and  fresh  native  im 
pulses,  and  with  a  new  national  feeling,  greater 
personal  freedom,  and  broader  and  more  liberal 
political  views,  we  Americans  could  develop 
something  original,  as  we  have  done,  a  literature 
distinctly  characteristic  of  our  country,  differing 
in  some  respects  from  any  and  all  other  litera 
tures,  and  corresponding  to  the  American  type  of 
character.  It  is  of  Longfellow,  as  he  was  at  this 
period,  and  of  the  poets  who  believed  as  he  did, 
and  wrote  accordingly — "Colonists,"  as  Margaret 
Fuller  calls  them — that  she  writes: 

"What  shall  we  say  of  the  poets?  The  list  is 
scanty;  amazingly  so,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the 
causes  that  could  affect  lyrical  and  narrative  poetry 
...  Of  the  myriad  leaves  garnished  with 
smooth  stereotyped  rhymes  that  issue  yearly  from 
our  press,  you  will  not  find,  one  time  in  a  million,  a 
little  piece  written  from  any  such  impulse  [of  the 
heart],  or  with  the  least  sincerity  or  sweetness  of 
tone.  They  are  written  for  the  press,  in  the  spirit 
of  imitation  or  vanity,  the  paltriest  offspring  of  the 
human  brain,  for  the  heart  disclaims,  as  the  ear 
is  shut  against  them."  1 

1  Margaret  Fuller  in  article  on  American  Literature  in  the 
Dial.  Literature  and  Art,  Part  II.  130.  Art,  Literature,  and 
the  Drama,  p.  306. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER         15 

Margaret  Fuller  here  puts  her  finger  upon  the 
two  cardinal  faults  of  our  literature  of  the  time, 
especially  the  poetry.  She  lays  bare  the  seat  of  the 
disease  that  kept  it  from  growing  and  flowering. 
Our  literature  lacked,  first  of  all,  originality  and 
secondly,  depth.  It  was  not  an  expression  of  the 
innermost  feelings  of  the  heart,  as  it  should  be, 
feelings  that  arise  out  of  personal  experiences  in 
life. 

A  distinctive  and  most  creditable  feature  of  the 
criticism  of  Margaret  Fuller  and  her  companions 
is  its  positive,  and  constructive  character.  While 
these  reformers  could  not  and  would  not  bear 
anything  pedantic,  and  attacked  with  all  their 
might  what  they  thought  shallow,  narrow,  or  false 
in  life  and  literature,  they  enthusiastically  offered 
in  its  stead  something  better  and  more  substantial. 
With  what  enthusiasm  and  high  hope  they  carried 
on  this  reform  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
passage  by  Emerson  in  the  Dial:  "He  who  doubts 
whether  this  age  or  this  country  can  yield  any 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  world  only 
betrays  his  own  blindness  of  the  necessity  of  the 
human  soul."  x  To  enable  an  American  literature 
to  grow  up  in  our  country,  writes  Margaret  Ful- 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  137. 


16        AN    INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER 

ler:  "an  original  idea  must  animate  this  nation 
and  fresh  currents  of  life  must  call  into  life  fresh 
thoughts  along  its  shores."  Imitation  will  not  suf 
fice.  We,  "a  mixed  race  .  .  .  with  ample  field 
and  verge  enough  to  range  in  and  leave  every  im 
pulse  free,  and  abundant  opportunity  to  develop 
a  genius,  wide  and  full  as  our  rivers,  flowery,  lux 
uriant  and  impassioned  as  our  vast  prairies/'  are 
ourselves  able  to  develop  a  creditable  and  glorious 
literature  of  our  own,  for  "Men's  hearts  beat, 
hope,  and  suffer  always,  and  they  must  crave  such 
means  to  vent  them."  *  Such  were  the  thoughts 
and  literary  ideals  of  this  new  movement  in  which 
Margaret  Fuller  played  such  an  important  part, 
ideals  as  grand  as  those  which  Goethe  and  his  as 
sociates  set  up  for  German  literature  during  the 
"Storm  and  Stress"  period  in  Germany.  Such  a 
literature,  inspired  by  native  impulses  and  envi 
ronments,  and  grown  upon  our  own  American  soil, 
a  literature  which  expresses  feelings  that  spring 
from  personal  experiences  in  life,  and  that  has  its 
foundations  deep  in  the  heart,  is  not  only  national, 
but  universal. 

What  the  effect  of  these  new  doctrines  was,  and 
how  well  the  originators  carried  out  their  high 

1  Article  on  American  Literature  in  the  Dial.     Art,  Literature, 
and  the  Drama,  pp.  298  f.  306. 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER          17 

ideals,  and  in  turn  handed  them  down  to  their 
literary  successors,  is  well  known.  "After  fifty 
years  of  national  life,"  says  Mr.  Higginson,  "the 
skylark  and  nightingale  were  at  last  dethroned 
from  our  literature,  and  in  the  very  first  volume  of 
the  'Dial'  the  blue-bird  and  wood-thrush  took  their 
place.  Since  then,  they  have  held  their  own;  .  .  . 
Americans  still  go  to  England  to  hear  the  skylark, 
but  Englishmen  also  come  to  America  to  hear  the 
bobolink."1 

A  few  words  ought  to  be  said  concerning  the 
writers  who  criticised  Margaret  Fuller  unjustly. 
Some  of  these  criticisms  are  due  to  a  misunder 
standing  of  her  true  nature  and  the  purpose  she 
had  in  view,  and  are  honest.  This  misunderstand 
ing  was  partly  because  of  her  straight-forward 
and  often  too  plain-spoken  manner  of  address,  and 
because  of  the  unfavorable  impression  she  so 
often  made  in  public  upon  those  not  well  ac 
quainted  with  her.  There  are,  however,  several 
criticisms  of  her  written  out  of  malice  and  spite, 
assailing  her  at  every  point,  not  sparing  even  her 
character.  Editors  and  authors  in  her  time  often 
sought  to  revenge  themselves,  by  personal  abuse, 
for  some  literary  slight,  or  perhaps,  for  an  unfav- 

1    Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  137. 


i8         AN  INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

orable  criticism  of  some  of  their  works.  The 
tomahawk  theory  was  still  in  practice  and  men  did 
not  hesitate  to  uget  even."  This  probably  ac 
counts  for  Edgar  Allan  Poe's  scathing,  unjust  re 
marks  concerning  her,  and  his  frequently  dishonest 
criticisms  of  others  who  happened  to  provoke  his 
ire.1  Lowell  is  guilty  of  the  same  thing,  though 
mildly  so,  in  his  Fable  for  Critics,  in  which  he 
satirizes  Margaret  Fuller's  individual  characteris 
tics  in  "Miranda."  '  Hawthorne,  too,  failed  here 
and  there,  to  do  her  justice,  though  he  seems  to 
have  been  on  good  terms  with  her  generally.3  For 
us  it  is  enough  to  judge  her  by  what  she  wrote 
and  did,  and  by  the  verdict  passed  upon  her  by 
such  men  as  Emerson,  Greeley,  J.  F.  Clarke,  and 
W.  H.  Channing,  men  who  knew  her  best,  and 
who,  we  are  sure,  gave  their  honest,  candid  opin 
ion  of  her. 


1  See  for  examples  of  Poe's  bitter  criticism  and  literary  satire, 
his  works  (Chicago,  1896),  Vol.  VI.  245;  IX.  259. 

*  The  Writings  of  James  Russell  Lowell.  (Riverside  Edition) 
III.  67  ff. 

3  See  Hawthorne's  American  Note  Books.  Entry  for  August 
22,  1842. 


MARGARET  FULLER  AND 
GOETHE 

Chapter  I 
EARLY  EDUCATION 

uWhat  I  mean  by  the  Muse  is  that  unimpeded 
clearness  of  the  intuitive  powers,  which  a  perfectly 
truthful  adherence  to  every  admonition  of  the 
higher  instincts  would  bring  to  a  finely  organized 
human  being.  .  .  .  Should  these  faculties  have 
free  play,  I  believe  they  will  open  new,  deeper  and 
purer  sources  of  joyous  inspiration  than  have  yet 
refreshed  the  earth.  Let  us  be  wise  and  not  im 
pede  the  soul."1  A  natural  development  of  the 
highest  intuitive  powers  of  the  soul,  by  means  of 
a  full  experience  of  life,  this  was  Margaret 
Fuller's  broad  doctrine  of  education;2  yet  she, 
herself,  never  had  the  advantage  of  such  a  bring 
ing  up. 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  116. 

2  See  Memoirs,  I.  132  ff. 

19 


20      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Margaret  Fuller*  received  her  early  education 
in  her  home.  Her  father,  a  lawyer  and  politician, 
"a  man  of  business,  even  in  literature,"1  as  she 
characterizes  him  in  a  sketch  of  her  youth  in  an 
autobiographical  romance,  was  her  teacher. 

*  Sarah  Margaret  Fuller,  the  eldest  child  of  Timothy  Fuller, 
was  born  at  Cambridgeport,  Massachusetts,  May  23,  1810.  Her 
girlhood  days,  except  two  years  during  which  she  attended  the 
girls'  school  of  the  Misses  Prescott  at  Groton,  Massachusetts, 
were  spent  in  and  about  Cambridge.  At  Cambridge  and  Boston 
she  met  and  made  friends  with  many  noted  men  and  women  who 
remained  her  enthusiastic  admirers  through  life.  In  1833  the 
Fuller  family  removed  to  Groton.  Here,  besides  her  studies, 
Miss  Fuller  had  many  family  cares  and  household  duties  to 
look  after.  Her  father  dying  in  1835,  increased  these  burdens 
until  her  health  became  seriously  impaired.  She  had  to  give  up 
her  long  cherished  hope  of  going  abroad,  to  help  support  and 
care  for  the  family  and  contribute  towards  educating  her  brothers 
and  sisters.  During  1836-37  she  taught  in  A.  Bronson  Alcott's 
school  in  Boston,  and  1837-38  in  the  Green  Street  School  at 
Providence,  Rhode  Island.  In  1839  the  Fuller  family  moved  to 
Jamaica  Plain,  where  they  resided  during  the  next  three  years. 
After  that  they  returned  to  Cambridge  and  remained  there  until 
the  home  was  broken  up  in  1844.  Margaret  Fuller  published  in 
1839  a  translation  of  Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe, 
which  was  followed  in  1842  by  a  translation  of  The  Letters  of 
Giinderode  and  Bettine  von  Arnim,  During  the  summer  of 
1843  Miss  Fuller  took  a  trip  on,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Great 
Lakes.  Summer  on  the  Lakes,  published  during  the  same  year, 
is  an  account  of  her  experiences  and  impressions  on  this  trip. 
Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  came  out  in  1844,  and  Papers 
on  Literature  and  Art,  a  collection  of  her  magazine  and  news 
paper  articles  previously  published,  in  1846.  In  1852,  her  col 
lected  works,  edited  by  her  brother,  appeared,  in  which  the 
volume,  At  Home  and  Abroad,  including  a  poetic  translation  of 
Goethe's  Tasso,  and  much  besides  which  had  never  before  ap 
peared  was  published.  Later  in  1895,  and  1903,  two  additional 
works,  Margaret  and  Her  Friends,  a  synopsis  of  ten  "Conversa 
tions"  held  in  Boston,  1839-40,  and  the  Love  Letters  of  Margaret 
Fuller  appeared.  Her  most  important  work,  however,  was  as 

1  Ibid.,  I.  14. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  21 

He  was  of  Puritan  stock,  doubtless  conscien 
tious  and  well-meaning  in  his  way,  a  man 
of  vigor  and  well-informed,  since  he  gradu 
ated  with  honors  from  Harvard  University.  But 
he  was  also  a  man  of  undue  self-assertion,  often 
very  impractical,  and  in  some  respects  narrow. 
He  was  ua  character,  in  its  social  aspect,  of  quite 
the  common  sort,"  said  his  daughter.  His  great 
aim  of  existence  was  to  be  an  honored  citizen,  and 
to  have  a  home,  "to  work  for  distinction  in  the 
community,  and  for  the  means  of  supporting  a 
family."1 

Margaret  Fuller's  description  of  her  mother, 
also  of  Puritan  stock,  is,  that  she  was  "one  of 
those  fair  and  flowerlike  natures,  which  some- 
editor  of  the  Dial,  1840-42,  and  as  literary  and  art  critic  for 
the  New  York  Tribune,  1844-46.  In  1846  she  sailed  for  Europe, 
and  after  spending  some  time  on  a  visit  in  England  and  France, 
where  she  made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  most  noted 
literary  men  and  women  then  living,  she  took  up  her  residence 
in  Italy.  There  she  met  and  married,  in  1847,  the  Marquis 
Giovanni  Angelo  Ossoli,  a  friend  of  Mazzini.  She  became  much 
interested  in  the  Italian  Revolution  of  1848-49,  and  was  present 
with  her  husband  in  Rome  during  the  siege.  While  her  hus 
band  fought  on  the  walls  she  took  charge  of  one  of  the  hospitals 
for  the  wounded  within  the  city.  She  also  wrote  during  these 
years  a  History  of  the  Italian  revolution.  On  May  17,  1850, 
the  Ossolis  sailed  on  the  merchant  vessel,  Elizabeth,  for  America, 
but  the  vessel  was  wrecked,  July  19,  off  Fire  Island,  and 
Margaret,  her  husband,  and  child  perished.  The  manuscripts 
of  her  last  work,  that  on  the  Italian  revolution,  as  also  possibly, 
the  notes  she  had  taken  on  the  Life  of  Goethe  were  lost  in  the 
wreck. 

1  Memoirs,  I.  12. 


22      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

times  spring  up  even  beside  the  most  dusty  high 
ways  of  life — a  creature  not  to  be  shaped  into 
a  merely  useful  instrument,  but  bound  by  one  law 
with  the  blue  sky,  the  dew,  and  the  frolic  birds. 
Of  all  persons  whom  I  have  known,  she  had  in 
her  most  of  the  angelic — of  that  spontaneous  love 
for  every  living  thing,  for  man,  and  beast,  and 
tree,  which  restores  the  golden  age."1  Mr.  Ful 
ler's  love  for  her,  says  Margaret,  "was  the  green 
spot  on  which  he  stood  apart  from  the  common 
places  of  a  mere  bread-winning,  bread-bestowing 
existence."2  uShe  was  'timidly  friendly',"  says 
Mr.  Higginson,  and  "must  have  been  one  of  the 
sweetest  and  most  self-effacing  wives  ever  ruled 
by  a  strong-willed  spouse."3 

Margaret  inherited  characteristics  from  both 
her  parents.  Her  lofty  idealism,  her  love  of  the 
true  and  beautiful  in  character,  as  in  nature — the 
tendency  toward  these,  she  inherited  from  her 
mother.  Her  accurate  habits  of  mind,  her  great 
intellectuality  and  strong  personality,  but  also, 
her  lack  of  social  tact,  and  a  certain  abruptness 
of  manner,  which  so  often  repelled  those  not  well 
acquainted  with  her,  and  caused  them  to  heap 

1  Memoirs,  I.  12  f. 

2  Memoirs,  I.   12. 

8  Higginson,  Margaret  "Fuller. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  23 

much  unjust  criticism  upon  her,  but  which  really 
hid  a  kind  and  noble  heart — all  these  traits  she 
inherited,  to  a  large  extent,  from  her  father.  • 

Unfortunately,  in  some  respects,  for  Margaret, 
her  father  took  her  entire  education  into  his  own 
hands,  and  from  early  childhood  brought  her  up 
in  the  straight-jacket  Puritan  manner.  Education, 
as  he  understood  the  term,  meant  merely  a  de 
velopment  of  the  mental  faculties,  "an  intellectual 
forcing  process,"  says  Mr.  Higginson.  This  sys 
tem  was  the  one  generally  adopted  and  practised 
at  the  time  throughout  New  England  and  in  most 
parts  of  the  civilized  world.  It  was  thus  that  Mar 
garet's  bodily  health,  and  those  greater  qualities 
of  heart  and  character  with  which  nature  had  so 
richly  endowed  her  from  the  maternal  side,  were 
neglected,  or  left  to  develop  themselves,  as  best 
they  could,  during  these  early  years.  Her  deeper 
nature  continually  rebelled  and  cried  out  against 
this  one-sided,  mere  intellectual  training,  the  de 
velopment  of  the  mind,  to  the  neglect  of  her  heart 
and  bodily  health. 

Margaret  began  the  study  of  Latin  at  six  years 
of  age.  Though  her  father  thought  to  do  well 
by  her,  and  took  great  pleasure  in  instructing  his 
oldest  child  himself,  she  says:  "He  was  a  severe 


24      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

teacher,  both  from  habits  of  mind  and  his  ambi 
tion  for  me.  .  .  .  He  had  no  belief  in  minds  that 
listen,  wait,  and  receive.  He  had  no  conception 
of  the  subtle  and  indirect  motions  of  imagination 
and  feeling."  This  very  important  side  of  her 
nature  had  therefore  no  chance  for  development; 
"since,"  she  says,  "I  must  put  on  the  fetters";  for 
"his  influence  on  me  was  great,  and  opposed  to 
the  natural  unfolding  of  my  character."* 

Tasks  were  given  the  child,  "as  many  and 
various  as  the  hours  would  allow."  Since  her 
father  did  not  return  from  his  office  until  the  day 
was  over,  she  had  to  recite  to  him  in  the  evening. 
She  was  thus  frequently  kept  up  very  late,  because 
they  were  often  interrupted.  Her  mind  and  her 
feelings  were  "kept  on  the  stretch"  late  into  the 
night,  when  she,  or  any  child  of  her  tender  years, 
should  have  been  in  bed  asleep  and  at  rest  for 
several  hours. 

"The  consequence,"  continues  Margaret  Fuller, 

1  Memoirs,  I.  15  ff. 

*Arthur  B.  Fuller,  the  brother  of  Margaret,  wrote  that  their 
father's  sternness  and  exacting  manner,  as  she  has  described  it, 
and  his  overlooking,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  physical  health  of 
his  daughter  by  tasking  to  the  utmost  her  extraordinary  powers, 
leaves  a  wrong  impression  of  his  real  nature.  It  was,  he  says, 
through  error  and  his  great  zeal  for  his  daughter,  and  not 
through  lack  of  love  or  kindness,  that  he  caused  her  to  suffer. 
Preface  to  Memoirs  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  Boston,  1874, 
p.  4f. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  25 

"was  a  premature  development  of  the  brain,  that 
made  me  a  'youthful  prodigy'  by  day,  and  by 
night  a  victim  of  spectral  illusions,  nightmare,  and 
somnambulism,  which  at  the  time  prevented  the 
harmonious  development  of  my  bodily  powers  and 
checked  my  growth,  while,  later  they  induced  con 
tinual  headache,  weakness  and  nervous  affections, 
of  all  kinds.  As  these  again  re-acted  on  the  brain, 
giving  undue  force  to  every  thought  and  every 
feeling,  there  was  finally  produced  a  state  of  being 
both  too  active  and  too  intense,  which  wasted  my 
constitution."1  "Poor  child!"  she  writes  years 
afterward,  "Far  remote  in  time,  in  thought,  from 
that  period,  I  look  back  on  these  glooms  and  ter 
rors,  wherein  I  was  enveloped,  and  perceive  that 
I  had  no  natural  childhood."  In  1844,  in  refer 
ring  to  the  improved  methods  in  education,  phys 
ical,  as  also  mental  and  spiritual,  she  writes  in  her 
diary :  "If  we  had  only  been  as  well  brought  up  in 
these  respects !  It  was  not  mother's  fault  that  she 
was  ignorant  of  every  physical  law,  young,  un 
taught  country  girl  as  she  was;  but  I  can't  help 
mourning,  sometimes,  that  my  bodily  health 
should  have  been  so  destroyed  by  the  ignorance  of 
both  my  parents."  3 

1  Memoirs,  I.    15.  2  Ibid.,  I.  16. 

3  Diary,  1844,  quoted  by  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  22. 


26      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

It  was  with  her  books  that  Margaret  Fuller  at 
this  period  passed  her  days,  especially  Latin 
works,  of  which  she  must  have  read  a  great 
many.  Besides  Latin,  she  mentions  in  these  early 
years,  English  grammar  and  Greek.  The  latter, 
however,  she  did  not  learn  as  thoroughly  as  Latin 
— "only  enough  to  feel  that  the  sounds  told  the 
same  story  as  the  mythology,"  *  which  charmed 
her  very  much.  "Within  the  house,"  she  contin 
ues,  "everything  was  socially  utilitarian;  my  books 
told  of  a  proud  world."  One  joy  which  she 
found,  however,  was  the  little  garden  near  the 
house,  of  which  she  cannot  say  enough  and 
where  she  came  into  heart-to-heart  touch  with 
nature  at  first  hand.  She  felt,  too,  a  great 
pleasure  in  viewing  the  sunset.  Of  friends, 
she  speaks  with  rapture  of  her  attachment 
for  a  cultured  young  English  lady,  who  was 
paying  a  visit  to  America,  and  who  seemed  to 
Margaret  to  have  developed  within  her  exactly 
that  which  Margaret  then  unconsciously  sought, 
namely,  her  inner  life  and  soul.  Outside  of  these 
two  pleasures,  which  are  suited  to  the  tempera 
ment  of  an  older  person  rather  than  to  that  of  a 
child,  her  childhood  seems  to  have  been  particu- 

1  Memoirs,  I.   22. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  27 

larly  barren  of  the  many  little  friendships  with 
others  of  her  own  age,  and  the  various  pleasures 
and  pastimes  in  which  children  usually  take  so 
much  delight.  Writing  of  this  period  later,  she 
says:  "The  common  prose  world  [was]  so  pres 
ent  to  me."1 

It  was  this  merely  living  in  books  and  phrases 
that  made  her  admire  so  much  those  Greeks  and 
Romans  of  whom  she  studied.  "I  lived  in  those 
Greek  forms  the  true  faith  of  a  refined  and  intense 
childhood,"  she  writes.  "So  great  was  the  force 
of  reality  with  which  these  forms  impressed  me, 
that  I  prayed  earnestly  for  a  sign — that  it  would 
lighten  in  some  particular  region  of  the  heavens, 
or  that  I  might  find  a  bunch  of  grapes  in  the  path, 
when  I  went  forth  in  the  morning.  But  no  sign 
was  given,  and  I  was  left  a  waif  stranded  upon 
the  shores  of  modern  life."  2  Her  feeling  for  the 
Romans  was  nothing  short  of  ecstacy.  They  ap 
peared  to  her  to  live  real,  positive  lives,  they  pos 
sessed  personality,  were  real  men  of  flesh  and 
blood;  natural,  vigorous,  practical  men  of  deeds. 
They  had  at  least  one  side  of  their  character 
developed  that  had  been  neglected  in  her  educa 
tion;  and  feeling  this  want  in  herself,  made  her 

Memoirs,  I.  18.  "  Ibid.,   I.   21   f. 


28   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

admire  them  and  long  for  the  qualities  which  dis 
tinguished  them.  "I  thought  with  rapture,"  she 
writes,  "of  the  all-accomplished  man,  him  of 
many  talents,  wide  resources,  clear  sight,  and  om 
nipotent  will.  A  Caesar  seemed  great  enough." 
"Horace  was  a  great  deal  to  me  then,  and  is  so 
still.  .  .  .  He  is  a  natural  man  of  the  world;  he 
is  what  he  ought  to  be."  "It  never  shocks  us  that 
the  Roman  is  self-conscious.  One  wants  no  uni 
versal  truths  from  him,  no  philosophy,  no  crea 
tion,  but  only  his  life,  his  Roman  life  felt  in  every 
pulse,  realized  in  every  gesture."  It  was  not  long, 
however,  until  these  characters  seemed  insufficient 
to  her.  As  soon  as  she  learned  to  know  from  the 
works  of  Shakespeare,  Moliere,  and  Cervantes 
characters  that  were  better  rounded  out  she  felt 
that  too  much  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  external 
side  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  characters,  and  not 
enough  on  the  internal.  "I  did  not  then  know," 
she  says,  "that  such  men  impoverish  the  treasury 
to  build  the  palace."  l 

When  Margaret  was  thirteen  years  old  she  was 
already  so  mature  in  mind  and  appearance  that 
she  sought  her  companions  among  girls  much 
older  than  herself  ;yet  socially  she  was,  in  general, 

1  Memoirs,   I.   20  ff. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  29 

without  success.  Her  father,  realizing  that  he 
had  made  a  mistake  in  her  bringing-up,  saw 
that  she  lived  too  much  in  her  books,  and  was 
therefore  unable  to  appear  well  in  society.  She 
had  spent  some  time  at  the  celebrated  school  of 
Dr.  Park  in  Boston,  but  now  her  father  decided 
to  send  her  to  the  girls'  school  of  the  Misses  Pres- 
cott  at  Groton.  Here,  according  to  her  own  ac 
count,  she  suffered  much  because  of  her  social 
eccentricities  and  inability  to  mix  well  with  the 
other  girls  of  the  school.  She  improved  much 
in  these  respects,  however,  while  here,  and  re 
turned  home  after  two  years,  much  benefited  by 
her  experiences.  Nevertheless  she  writes,  some 
what  later,  concerning  the  faults  of  the  educa 
tional  system,  as  it  then  was,  and  of  her  teachers : 
"I  was  now  in  the  hands  of  teachers,  who  had  not, 
since  they  came  on  the  earth,  put  to  themselves 
one  intelligent  question  as  to  their  business  here. 
.  .  .  They,  no  doubt,  injured  those  who  ac 
cepted  the  husks  they  proffered  for  bread,  and  be 
lieved  that  exercise  of  memory  was  study,  and  to 
know  what  others  knew,  was  the  object  of 
study."  l 

Upon  her  return  from  Groton  she  continued 

1  Memoirs,  I.   132. 


30      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

her  studies  at  home  after  the  same  manner  as  be 
fore,  developing  the  intellect  and  neglecting  the 
other  natural  faculties  that  go  to  make  up  life  and 
character.  How  industriously  she  worked  and 
what  subjects  she  covered,  may  be  learned  from 
a  letter  dated  July,  1825,  and  addressed  to  one 
of  her  former  teachers  at  Groton. 

"I  rise  a  little  before  five,  walk  an  hour,  and 
then  practice  on  the  piano,  till  seven,  when  we 
breakfast.  Next  I  read  French — Sismondi's  Liter 
ature  of  the  South  of  Europe — till  eight,  then 
two  or  three  lectures  in  Brown's  Philosophy. 
About  half  past  nine  I  go  to  Mr.  Perkins'  school 
and  study  Greek  till  twelve,  when,  the  school  being 
dismissed,  I  recite,  go  home,  and  practice  again 
till  dinner,  at  two.  .  .  .  Then,  when  I  can,  I  read 
two  hours  in  Italian,  but  am  often  interrupted. 
At  six,  I  walk,  or  take  a  drive.  Before  going  to 
bed  I  play  or  sing,  for  half  an  hour  or  so,  to  make 
all  sleepy,  and,  about  eleven,  retire  to  write  a 
little  while  in  my  journal,  exercises  on  what  I  have 
read,  or  a  series  of  characteristics  which  I  am 
filling  up  according  to  advice.  Thus,  you  see,  I 
am  learning  Greek,  and  making  acquaintance  with 
metaphysics,  and  French  and  Italian  literature."  1 

1  Memoirs,  I.  52  f. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  31 

The  next  year  we  find  her  reading  Madame  de 
Stael,  for  whom  she  felt  much  enthusiasm,  Epic- 
tetus,  Milton,  Racine,  and  the  Castilian  ballads. 
During  the  next  two  years  she  makes  the  acquaint 
ance  of  Locke,  and  reads  Madame  de  StaeTs 
comments  on  his  system.  Among  many  other 
books  on  various  subjects,  she  reads  Russell's  Tour 
in  Germany,  which  she  calls  "a  most  interesting 
book." 

From  the  accounts  above  we  may  fairly  judge 
that  she  covered  in  her  studies,  up  to  the  time  she 
was  twenty-two  years  old  (1832),  more  or  less 
thoroughly,  the  whole  field  of  English,  Latin, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Italian  literatures,  besides 
dipping  somewhat  into  Greek  and  philosophy. 

Emerson  however,  makes  a  note  that  when  she 
came  to  Concord,  about  1835,  she  was  little 
read  in  Shakespeare.  This  is  important,  for  the 
one  author  who  could  best  have  developed  the 
side  of  her  nature  so  much  neglected,  that  is,  her 
feelings  and  inner  life,  was  rather  slighted.  Of 
the  good  effects  of  her  study  of  all  these  authors 
and  this  mass  of  literature,  she  writes:  "They 
taught  me  to  distrust  all  invention  which  is  not 
based  on  a  wide  experience."  But,  she  adds: 
"Perhaps,  too,  they  taught  me  to  overvalue  an  out- 


32      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

ward  experience  at  the  expense  of  inward  growth; 
but  all  this  I  did  not  appreciate  until  later."1 

Very  interesting  it  is  to  study  Margaret  Fuller's 
early  religious  training  in  her  home,  and  the  atti 
tude  she  took  toward  the  New  England  church  of 
the  day.  Mrs.  Howe  describes  the  orthodox 
churchman  as  a  "stern  Presbyterian,  with  his  dog 
mas  and  his  task-work,  the  city  circle  and  the 
college,  with  their  niggard  conceptions  and  unfeel 
ing  stare."2  The  church  as  it  was  then  failed 
utterly  to  satisfy  the  wants  and  longings  of  her 
inner  life. 

Of  Sunday  in  her  home  and  at  church,  she 
writes:  "This  day  was  punctiliously  set  apart  in 
our  house.  .  .  .  The  day  was  pleasing  to  me,  as 
relieving  me  from  the  routine  of  tasks  and  reci 
tations;  .  .  .  still  the  church  going,  where  I 
heard  nothing  that  had  any  connection  with  my 
inward  life,  and  these  rules,  gave  me  associations 
with  the  day  of  empty  formalities,  and  arbitrary 
restrictions;  but  though  the  forbidden  book  or 
walk  always  seemed  more  charming  then,  I  was 
seldom  tempted  to  disobey."3 

How  strictly  Margaret,  then  but  a  little  girl, 


1  Memoirs,  I.  30  f.         2  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  123. 
3  Memoirs,  I.  26. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  33 

was  held  to  these  "arbitrary  rules"  may  be  gath 
ered  from  a  description  of  her  experience  upon 
the  occasion  of  her  first  acquaintance  with  Shake 
speare.  She  had  taken  down  a  volume  of  his 
works,  one  winter  Sunday  afternoon,  and  become 
deeply  interested  in  Romeo  and  Juliet.  Her 
father,  taking  notice,  asked  what  book  she  was 
reading.  "Shakespeare,"  she  answered.  "Shake 
speare! — that  won't  do;  that's  no  book  for 
Sunday;  go  put  it  away  and  take  another."  She 
put  it  away,  but  her  deep  interest  in  the  characters 
whose  acquaintance  she  had  just  made  tempted 
her  to  take  the  book  again.  When  asked  a  second 
time  what  she  was  reading,  she  answered,  "Shake 
speare."  "How?"  answered  her  father,  angrily, 
"Give  me  the  book  and  go  directly  to  bed."  She 
went,  but  could  not  sleep,  because  her  "fancies 
swarmed  like  bees,"  as  she  devised  and  formed 
in  her  own  mind  a  conclusion  to  the  story  she  had 
begun.  Soon  her  father  came  in  to  argue  the 
case  with  her,  but  to  no  avail.  She  could  feel  no 
sympathy  with  these  empty  rules  and  formalities. 
The  world  of  these  plays  was  different;  there  she 
found  a  "free  flow  of  life,"  which  "brought  home 
the  life  I  seemed  born  to  live."  * 

1  Memoirs,  I.  26  f. 


34      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Again,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  she  mentions  in  a 
letter  (July,  1825),  her  disinclination  to  go  to 
church.  "Having  excused  myself  from  accom 
panying  my  honored  father  to  church,  which  I 
always  do  in  the  afternoon,  when  possible,  I  de 
vote  to  you  the  hours.  .  .  etc."1 

Perhaps  the  strongest  statement  of  her  revul 
sion  against  the  Puritan  theology  and  religious 
customs  is  in  the  following  passage : 

"It  was  Thanksgiving  Day  (November,  1831), 
and  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  church,  or  exceedingly 
displease  my  father.  I  almost  always  suffered 
much  in  church  from  a  feeling  of  disunion  with 
the  hearers  and  dissent  from  the  preacher;  but 
to-day,  more  than  ever  before,  the  services  jarred 
upon  me  from  their  grateful  and  joyful  tone."  2 

Much  as  Margaret  Fuller  felt  at  variance 
with  the  church,  she  sought  earnestly,  never 
theless,  to  find  comfort  for  her  inner  life  in  the 
regular  orthodox  religion.  This  is  shown  in  the 
continuation  of  the  description  of  her  experiences 
on  this  same  Thanksgiving  Day.  Wearied  out  with 
mental  conflicts  and  in  a  sad  frame  of  mind,  she 
sought  relief  and  solitude  by  a  walk  into  the  fields. 
The  day  was  cold  and  the  sky  gloomy.  Suddenly 

1  Memoirs,  I.  52.  2  Ibid.,   139. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  35 

the  sunshine  burst  through  the  clouds  and  flooded 
her  surroundings  "with  that  transparent  sweet 
ness,  like  the  last  smile  of  a  dying  lover."  *  A 
happier  spirit  came  over  her  soul  and  made  her 
feel  herself  nearer  to  the  Divine  Being,  and  she 
seemed,  for  the  moment,  reconciled.  But  if  we 
read  more  closely  this  same  description,  we  see 
clearly  that  her  feeling  is  rather  a  momentary 
resignation  of  self,  than  one  of  lasting  comfort 
and  inspiration.  It  is  a  giving  up  of  her  dearest 
hopes,  an  effacing  of  all  individuality  and  finding 
a  temporary  happiness  in  this  mystic  negation  of 
soul.  "I  saw,"  she  writes,  "there  was  no  self; 
.  .  .  that  it  was  only  because  I  thought  self  real 
that  I  suffered;  that  I  had  only  to  live  in  the  idea 
of  the  ALL  and  all  was  mine.  ...  In  that  true 
ray  most  of  the  relations  of  earth  seemed  mere 
films,  phenomena."  2 

It  is  very  readily  seen  that  had  this  ne 
gation  of  self  been  permanent,  and  had  she 
remained  in  this  frame  of  mind  and  state  of 
feeling,  beautiful  as  it  all  seemed  to  her  then, 
her  development  would  have  stopped  right 
there,  and  she  never  would  have  become  the 

1  Memoirs,  I.  140,  141.  ~  Ibid.,   140,  141. 


36      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

strong,  positive  force,  the  energetic  character  that 
we  know  her. 

This  does  not  mean  that  Margaret  Fuller  had 
no  deep  religious  instincts.  That  she  did  have, 
is  evident  from  her  religious  Credo1  of  1842,  and 
from  the  numerous  ardent  prayers  quoted  from 
her  letters  and  journal  by  her  biographers.  She, 
too,  was  as  capable  as  anybody  of  enjoying  a  good 
humanitarian  sermon,  one  that  was  full  of  thought 
and  encouragement  and  that  bore  a  real  relation 
to  her  inner  life.  She  has  left  on  record  many 
beautiful  tributes  to  the  preaching  of  such  men 
as  Emerson,  Dr.  W.  E.  Channing,  W.  H.  Chan- 
ning,  and  J.  F.  Clarke.  Yet  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  her  religious  belief,  as  shown  by  her  Credo 
and  her  private  letters,  was  quite  different  from 
that  of  any  of  these  men  and  from  any  of  the 
contemporary  New  England  churches.  Especially 
is  it  true  that  she  was  in  open  dissent  with  the 
religious  dogma  of  the  church  of  her  parents — 
the  Puritan. 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  she  was  not  orthodox, 
it  is  hard  to  say  just  what  her  religious  belief  was 
prior  to  1832.  Somewhat  later,  after  she  had 
studied  German  a  year  or  so,  she  writes  in  answer 

*See  Appendix,  p.  247  ff. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  37 

to  a  letter  from  J.  F.  Clarke,  in  which  he  seems 
to  have  enquired  after  her  religious  life  and  be 
lief:  "Very  early  I  knew  that  the  only  object  in 
life  was  to  grow."  She  further  states  that  though 
she  "was  often  false  to  this  knowledge,  in  idola 
tries  of  particular  objects,"  1  she  had  never  lost 
sight  of  this  aim.  In  a  letter  dated  May  4,  1830, 
Margaret  Fuller  describes  just  how  she  would 
like  to  see  a  person  of  genius  developed.  We 
may  take  for  granted  that  she  herself  at  that  time 
eagerly  desired  to  be  brought  to  a  full  realization 
of  life  and  of  her  powers  in  the  same  way. 

"I  have  greatly  wished  to  see  among  us,"  she 
writes,  "such  a  person  of  genius  as  the  nineteenth 
century  can  afford — i.  e.,  one  who  has  tasted  in 
the  morning  of  existence  the  extremes  of  good 
and  ill,  both  imaginative  and  real.  I  had  imag 
ined  a  person  endowed  by  nature  with  that  acute 
sense  of  Beauty,  (i.  e.,  Harmony  or  Truth), 
and  that  vast  capacity  of  desire  which  give  soul 
to  love  and  ambition.  ...  I  would  have  had 
him  go  on  steadily,  feeding  his  mind  with  con 
genial  love,  hopefully  confident  that  if  he  only 
nourished  his  existence  into  perfect  life,  Fate 
would,  at  fitting  season,  furnish  an  atmosphere  and 

1  Memoirs,  I.  132  f. 


38   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

orbit  meet  for  his  breathing  and  exercise.  I  wished 
he  might  adore,  not  fever  for,  the  bright  phan 
toms  of  his  mind's  creation,  and  believe  them  but 
the  shadows  of  external  things  to  be  met  with 
hereafter.  After  this  steady  intellectual  growth 
had  brought  his  powers  to  manhood,  so  far  as 
the  ideal  can  do  it,  I  wished  this  being  might  be 
launched  into  the  world  of  realities,  his  heart 
glowing  with  the  ardor  of  an  immortal  toward 
perfection,  his  eyes  searching  everywhere  to  behold 
it;  I  wished  he  might  collect  into  one  burning 
point  those  withering,  palsying  convictions,  which, 
in  the  ordinary  routine  of  things,  so  gradually 
pervade  the  soul;  that  he  might  suffer,  in  brief 
space,  agonies  of  disappointment  commensurate 
with  his  unpreparedness  and  confidence.  And  I 
thought,  thus  thrown  back  on  the  representing 
pictorial  resources  I  supposed  him  originally  to 
possess,  with  such  material,  and  the  need  he  must 
feel  of  using  it,  such  a  man  would  suddenly  dilate 
into  a  form  of  Pride,  Power,  and  Glory,  a  center, 
round  which  asking,  aimless  hearts  might  rally — a 
man  fitted  to  act  as  interpreter  to  the  one  tale 
of  many-languaged  eyes!"1 

It  is  interesting  to  note  how  she  longs  for  just 

1  Memoirs,  I.  69  f. 


EARLY  EDUCATION  39 

such  a  development  of  character  as  she  finds  later 
in  the  great  characters  of  Goethe — in  Faust  and 
Wilhelm  Meister.  Beyond  the  mere  longing,  how 
ever,  she  seems  at  this  period  not  to  have  made 
any  progress  towards  a  realization  of  this  ideal. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  we  find  Margaret 
Fuller  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  (1832)  a  young 
woman  of  high  sensibilities,  with  a  lively,  active 
mind.  Her  mind,  however,  has  been  developed 
out  of  all  proportion  to  her  other  powers,  in  fact, 
to  the  neglect  of  these :  in  her  own  words,  her 
"true  life  .  .  .  was  secluded  and  veiled  over  by 
a  thick  curtain  of  available  intellect."1  The  ortho 
dox  church,  too,  has  failed  to  satisfy  her  spiritual 
needs,  in  fact,  has  repelled  her  by  its  empty  for 
malities,  narrow  dogmas,  controversial  sermons, 
and  arbitrary  restrictions.  We  see  also  that  she 
has  a  yearning  for  a  deeper  inner  experience  and 
growth,  but  that  her  inner  nature  had  not  yet  been 
called  out. 

"How  little,"  writes  Julia  Ward  Howe,  "were 
the  beauties  of  her  mind,  the  graces  of  her  char 
acter,  guessed  at  or  sought  for  by  those  who  saw 
in  her  unlikeness  to  the  popular  or  fashionable 

^Memoirs,  p.  18- 


40   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

type    of    the    time    matter    only    for    derisive 
comment!"  x 

It  will  be  the  object  of  the  following  chapter  to 
show  how  she  supplemented  her  early,  very  im 
perfect  education  by  the  teaching  of  her  great 
second  school-master,  Goethe.  We  shall  see  with 
what  enthusiasm  she  studied  the  "Great  Sage," 
as  she  calls  him,  how  she  assimilated  what  she 
found,  until  it  became  an  integral  part  of  her 
nature,  and  thus  rounded  out  her  character  and 
personality,  until  it  reached  its  highest  develop 
ment  and  truest  proportions. 

1  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  47. 


Chapter  II 
STUDY  OF  GERMAN 

THE     DEVELOPMENT      OF      MARGARET      FULLER'S 
INNER     LIFE 

Margaret  Fuller  began  the  study  of  German  in 
1832.  Her  interest  in  this  study  was  aroused, 
probably  for  the  first  time,  through  the  works  of 
Madame  de  Stael,  whom  she  mentions  in  a  letter 
as  early  as  May,  1826.  In  this  letter  she  calls 
her  "Brilliant,  .  .  useful  too,  but  it  is  on  the 
grand  scale,  on  liberalizing,  regenerating  princi 
ples."  l  The  next  year  she  calls  attention  to  her 
again.  From  this  distinguished  woman's  works 
Margaret  Fuller  must  have  become  acquainted 
with  the  Weimar  circle — Goethe,  Schiller,  Herder, 
etc.  In  fact,  Weimar  is  mentioned  by  her  in  a 
letter  January,  i828.2  She  read,  too,  Russell's 
Tour  in  Germany,  in  which  she  found  some  in 
teresting  material  about  German  universities.  But 
the  greatest  incitement  and  the  immediate  cause 

1  Memoirs,  I.  55.  2Ibid.,  p.  56. 


42      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

for  her  study  of  German  were,  according  to  J.  F. 
Clarke,  the  romantic  articles  of  Thomas  Carlyle 
on  Goethe,  Schiller,  and  Richter,  which  appeared 
in  the  old  Foreign  Review,  The  Edinburgh  Re 
view,  and  later  in  the  Foreign  Quarterly.  Both 
she  and  Mr.  Clarke  were  attracted  to  this  litera 
ture  at  the  same  time. 

"I  believe/'  Mr.  Clarke  writes,  uthat  in  about 
three  months  from  the  time  that  Margaret  com 
menced  German,  she  was  reading  with  ease  the 
masterpieces  of  its  literature.  Within  the  year  she 
had  read  Goethe's  Faust,  Tasso,  Iphigenie,  Her 
mann  and  Dorothea,  Elective  Affinities,  and  Mem 
oirs;  Tieck's  William  Lovel,  Prince  Zerbino,  and 
other  works;  Korner,  Novalis,  and  something  of 
Richter;  all  of  Schiller's  principal  dramas,  and  his 
lyric  poetry."  * 

Margaret  Fuller  never  took  any  formal  instruc 
tion  in  German,  but  was  for  the  most  part,  except 
as  to  pronunciation,  her  own  teacher.  This  is 
shown  by  the  following  two  passages,  the  first 
from  her  diary  of  January,  1833,  in  which  she 
writes:  "I  have  now  a  pursuit  of  immediate  im 
portance  :  to  the  German  language  and  literature  I 
will  give  my  undivided  attention.  I  have  made 

1  Memoirs,  I.  114. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   43 

rapid  progress  for  one  quite  unassisted."  *  The 
second  is  from  a  letter  to  Emerson,  December, 
1842:  "Italian,  as  well  as  German,  I  learned  by 
myself,  unassisted,  except  as  to  the  pronuncia 
tion."  2 

Her  ability  to  comprehend  the  underlying  prin 
ciples  and  meaning  of  each  author  she  studied,  and 
to  see  the  fine  distinctions  between  them  must  have 
been  little  short  of  marvelous.  This  trait  is  dwelt 
on  by  Mr.  Clarke.  "The  first  and  most  striking 
element  in  the  genius  of  Margaret  was  the  clear, 
sharp  understanding,  which  keenly  distinguished 
between  things  different,  and  kept  every  thought, 
opinion,  person,  character,  in  its  own  place,  not  to 
be  confounded  with  any  other.  .  .  .  Every  writer 
whom  she  studied,  as  every  person  whom  she 
knew,  she  placed  in  his  own  class,  knew  his  rela 
tion  to  other  writers,  to  the  world,  to  life,  to 
nature,  to  herself."  3 

It  was  fortunate  for  Margaret  Fuller  that  she 
grew  up  and  lived  during  a  number  of  years  almost 
within  the  shadow  of  Harvard  College.  Her 
family  was  socially  prominent  and  moved  in 

Harvard  circles.     Margaret  enjoyed,  therefore, 

B 

1  Margaret  Fuller's  Diary,   1833,  quoted  by  Higginson,  Mar 
garet  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  41. 

^Memoirs,  I.  241.  3  Ibid.,  I.  113. 


44      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

all  the  privileges  that  came  from  being  brought  up 
in  an  intellectual  atmosphere.  During  the  period 
of  Margaret  Fuller's  life  with  which  this  chapter 
deals,  German  scholarship  and  the  study  of  Ger 
man  were  arousing  a  great  deal  of  interest  at 
Harvard.  Charles  Pollen  was  there,  and  George 
Ticknor  and  Edward  Everett  had  just  returned 
from  Germany,  where  they  had  studied  in  the  Ger 
man  universities.  All  were  enthusiastic  for  Ger 
man  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
German  scholarship.  Margaret  Fuller  came  into 
close  social  contact  with  these  distinguished  men 
and  German  scholars,  and  with  others  who  had 
been  their  pupils. 

The  three  men  of  her  immediate  acquaintance 
who  undoubtedly  influenced  Margaret  Fuller  most 
in  the  study  of  German  were  Charles  Follen, 
Frederick  Henry  Hedge,  and  James  Freeman 
Clarke.  The  first  of  these,  Dr.  Charles  Follen, 
had  already  won  a  reputation  as  a  scholar  abroad, 
but  had  been  compelled  to  flee  to  America  as  a 
political  exile  from  Germany.  He  was  a  most 
broad-minded,  public-spirited,  and  talented  man, 
a  man  of  high  republican  principles,  and  one  of 
our  first  great  and  most  enthusiastic  anti-slavery 
advocates,  a  man  who  has  as  yet  unfortunately  not 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   45 

received  the  general  recognition  due  him.  He 
taught,  at  this  time,  German,  ecclesiastical  history, 
and  ethics  in  Harvard  College.  His  personality  as 
well  as  his  celebrity  as  a  scholar,  must  undoubtedly 
have  contributed  considerably  to  the  rise  of  in 
terest  in  German  literature  in  Cambridge  and  Bos 
ton  at  just  this  time;  for  Mr.  Higginson  writes: 
"Every  one  who  knew  him  was  his  friend."  1  Mar 
garet  Fuller  must  have  met  him  often,  for  they 
moved  in  the  same  circles. 

Of  great  personal  assistance  to  Margaret  Fuller 
was  Rev.  Frederick  Henry  Hedge,  an  ardent 
friend  of  the  Fuller  family,  and  a  contributor  to 
Margaret  Fuller's  biography.  He  had  studied 
several  years  in  Germany,  and  had  the  reputation 
of  being  "a  fountain  of  knowledge  in  the  way  of 
German."  2  From  him  she  borrowed  chiefly  her 
German  books,  and  discussed  with  him  by  letter, 
and  doubtless  also  orally,  what  she  had  read.  He 
also,  Miss  Edith  D.  Fuller  writes,3  probably 
helped  her  somewhat  with  her  pronunciation. 
"His  conversation,"  says  J.  F.  Clarke,  uwas  full  of 
interest  and  excitement  for  her.  He  opened  to  her 

1MS.  letter  of  Mr.  Higginson  to  Miss  Edith  D.  Fuller,  niece 
to  Margaret  Fuller,  February,  1909. 

2  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  44. 

8  MS.  letter  of  Miss  Edith  D.  Fuller,  Feb.  1909. 


46      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

a  whole  world  of  thoughts  and  speculations  which 
gave  movement  to  her  mind  in  a  congenial  direc 
tion."  x 

But  the  one  who  deserves  most  to  be  mentioned 
in  this  connection  is  James  Freeman  Clarke,  the 
great  Unitarian  preacher,  author,  and  anti-slavery 
advocate,  who  had  studied  under  Dr.  Follen.  He 
had  already  received  a  degree  from  Harvard  Col 
lege,  and  was  now  a  student  in  the  theological 
seminary.  Nevertheless  he  still  kept  up,  as  he 
did  nearly  all  his  life,  a  lively  interest  in  German 
writers,  especially  Goethe,  of  whose  influence  on 
him  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale  says:  "But  espe 
cially  was  he  reading  Goethe.  And  afterwards, 
in  referring  to  those  happy  days,  he  would  always 
speak  with  enthusiasm  of  the  larger  life  which 
opened  upon  so  many  of  them,  under  Goethe's 
lead."  2  It  was  probably  Mr.  Clarke  chiefly  who 
taught  Margaret  Fuller  the  German  pronuncia 
tion,  since  W.  H.  Channing  writes:  that  he  uwas 
her  constant  companion  in  exploring  the  rich  gar 
dens  of  German  literature."3  Mr.  Clarke,  him 
self,  in  speaking  of  this  period,  says:  "Almost 

^Memoirs,  I.  90. 

'Autobiography,  Diary,  and  Correspondence  of  James  Freeman 
Clarke,  p.  90  f. 
3  Memoirs,  II.  8. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   47 

every  evening  I  saw  her  and  heard  an  account  of 
her  studies."  i  "She  needed  a  friend  to  whom  to 
speak  of  her  studies,  to  whom  to  express  the  ideas 
which  were  dawning  and  taking  shape  in  her  mind. 
She  accepted  me  for  this  friend."  2 

Nothing  could  have  awakened  and  quickened 
her  mind,  in  fact,  enlivened  her  whole  being  more 
than  these  her  German  studies.  It  was  a  period 
"with  great  intensity  of  the  inner  life,"  writes  F. 
H.  Hedge  in  the  Memoirs,  for  "she  read  with  the 
heart."  She  had  "a  passionate  love  for  the  beau 
tiful,  which  comprehended  all  the  kingdoms  of 
nature  and  art."  3  She  "framed  an  acquaintance 
with  Goethe,  who  was  destined  in  no  small  degree 
to  influence  her  future  life."  4  "With  what  eager 
ness  did  she  seek  for  knowldge!"  Mr.  Clarke 
writes :  "What  fire,  what  exuberance,  what  reach, 
grasp,  overflow  of  thought,  shone  in  her  conversa 
tion!  .  .  .  To  me  it  [the  association  with  her  at 
this  time]  was  a  gift  of  the  gods,  an  influence  like 
no  other."  5  "Her  mind  opened  under  this  in 
fluence,  as  the  apple-blossom  at  the  end  of  a  warm 

^Memoirs,  I.  114. 

2  Ibid.,  I.  62. 

3  Ibid.,  I.  93. 

4  Note   by   F.    H.    Hedge   among   Margaret   Fuller's   MSS.    in 
Boston  Public  Library. 

^Memoirs,  I.  62. 


48      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

week  in  May.  The  thought  and  the  beauty  of  this 
rich  literature  equally  filled  her  mind  and  fascinat 
ed  her  imagination."1  "I  recall  other  mornings 
[somewhat  later  on]",  writes  Mr.  Clarke  again, 
"when  not  having  seen  her  for  a  week  or  two,  I 
would  walk  with  her  for  hours,  beneath  the  lindens 
or  in  the  garden,  while  we  related  to  each  other 
what  we  had  read  in  our  German  studies.  And  I 
always  left  her  astonished  at  the  progress  of  her 
mind,  at  the  amount  of  new  thoughts  she  had 
garnered,  and  filled  with  a  new  sense  of  the  worth 
of  knowledge,  and  the  value  of  life."  2  Life  began 
to  take  on  a  different  meaning  for  her  under  the 
vivifying  influence  of  these  new  thoughts.  They 
became,  as  we  see,  a  part  of  her  innermost  soul  and 
being.  She  felt  a  living  interest  in  all  she  read. 
Her  inner  life,  so  long  neglected,  began  to  grow, 
and  her  personality  to  expand;  since  for  her,  says 
Mr.  Clarke,  "Authors  and  their  personages  were 
not  ideal  beings  merely,  but  full  of  human  blood 
and  life."  3 

The  amount  of  reading  Margaret  Fuller  did  in 
German,  both  in  Cambridge,  and  in  Groton,  was 
simply  marvelous.  "I  am  having  one  of  my  *in- 

1  Memoirs,  I.  114. 
2Ibi'd.,  108. 
"Ibid.,  114. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE  49 

tense'  times,"  she  writes  from  Groton,  "devouring 
book  after  book.  I  never  stop  a  minute,  except  to 
talk  with  mother/'1  But  the  works  of  the  differ 
ent  authors  did  not  affect  her  equally.  Lessing's 
dramas  she  reads  and  thus  criticizes:  "Well  con 
ceived  and  sustained  characters,  interesting  situa 
tions.  ...  I  think  him  easily  followed;  strong 
but  not  deep."  With  Novalis  she  was  charmed; 
for,  in  common  with  her  associates,  she  had  a 
Romantic  note  in  her  temperament.  "The  good 
Novalis,"  she  says,  "a  wondrous  youth,"  then 
quoting  Geothe's  phrase,  whose  "life  was  so  full 
and  so  still."3  His  "one-sidedness,  imperfection, 
and  glow"  are  "refreshingly  human,"  and  "a  re 
lief,  after  feeling  the  immense  superiority  of 
Goethe."  She  wants  to  keep  a  Novalis  journal  for 
one  of  her  friends,  and  to  devote  two  articles  in  a 
series  on  German  literature  in  a  proposed  literary 
magazine,  to  him  and  her  favorite  Korner,  toward 
whom  her  attention  was  directed  by  Dr.  Pollen. 
Korner  "charms"  her,  and  "has  become  a  fixed 
star  in  the  heaven  of  my  thought,"  she  writes; 
"Great  is  my  love  for  both  of  them  [Novalis  and 
Korner]."4  Tieck  seems  to  her  so  important  that 

1  Memoirs,  I.  164.  2  Ibid.,    121.  8Ibid.,   118   ff. 

4  Ibid.,  120,  169. 


50      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

she  wishes  to  devote  to  him  at  least  eight  num 
bers  in  the  same  proposed  periodical,  should  it  ap 
pear.  Of  Jean  Paul  Richter's  "pages"  she  wishes 
to  umake  a  book,  or,  as  he  would  say,  bind  me  a 
bouquet  from  his  pages  and  wear  it  on  my  heart 
of  hearts,"  to  refresh  her  "wearied  inward  sense 
with  its  exquisite  fragrance."  "I  must  have  im 
proved,"  she  concludes,  "to  love  him  as  I  do."  1 
She  translates  into  verse  and  quotes  from  him 
beautiful  passages.  Heine,  too,  and  Uhland,  from 
whom  she  also  translates,  are  well  known  to  her. 
She  studies  Buhle's  and  Tennemann's  histories  of 
Philosophy,  and  reads  Fichte  and  Jacobi.  Fichte 
she  cannot  understand.  Jacobi  she  understands  in 
detail,  but  not  in  system.  His  mind,  she  thinks, 
with  marvelous  intuition,  is  moulded  by  some  other 
mind,  perhaps  Spinoza,  with  whom  she  feels  she 
ought  to  get  acquainted  to  know  Jacobi  well. 
Later  she  studies  Spinoza  and  discusses  him  with 
Theodore  Parker.  Herschel,  too,  she  studies  at  the 
advice  of  Professor  Farrar,  and  "really  believes" 
she  is  "a  little  wiser"  as  a  result.  A  little  later 
on  she  makes  the  acquaintance  of  Eichhorn  and 
Jahn,  and  in  1836  translates  for  Dr.  Channing, 
Herder  and  De  Wette. 

1  Memoirs,  I.  130. 


UNIVERSITY 

v  ®* 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   51 

Great  was  Margaret  Fuller's  admiration  for 
the  German  masters  of  music;  and  her  highly  ap 
preciative  article  on  these  Masters  in  the  Dial1 
contributed  much  to  stimulate  the  rising  interest  in 
music  in  New  England  at  the  time,  an  interest 
which  has  steadily  grown  in  America  until  the 
present  day.  So  heart-felt,  in  fact,  was  her  ad 
miration  of  the  great  composers  that,  upon  re 
turning  from  the  Boston  Academy  of  Music  one 
evening,  she  addressed  a  letter  to  Beethoven  in  the 
spirit  world.  She  calls  him  "My  only  friend," 
and  writes:  "Thou,  oh  blessed  Master!  dost  an 
swer  all  my  questions,  and  make  it  my  privilege  to 
be."  2 

But  for  none  of  these  authors  was  her  admira 
tion  so  strong  as  for  Schiller.  She  early  read  all 
his  principal  dramas  and  his  lyric  poetry,  and  later 
much  of  his  prose  works.  So  fascinated  did  she 
become  with  him  and  the  characters  he  created  that 
at  one  time  she  wrote;  "I  don't  like  Goethe  so  well 
as  Schiller  now.  I  mean  I  am  not  so  happy  in 
reading  him.  That  perfect  wisdom  and  merciless 
nature  seems  cold,  after  those  seducing  pictures  of 
forms  more  beautiful  than  truth."  3  This  prefer- 

*  See  Art,  Literature,  and  the  Drama,  p.  222. 

2  Memoirs,  I.  232  ff. 

3  Ibid.,  117. 


52      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

ence  of  Schiller  to  Goethe  was,  however,  transi 
tory,  yet  she  mentions  him  many  times  throughout 
her  works  and  in  her  letters,  and  quotes  from  him 
often. 

The  power,  however,  that  truly  marks  this 
greatest  epoch  in  the  development  of  her  inner 
life,  the  influence  more  powerful  than  all  the 
others  combined,  the  guiding  star  which  shed  light 
on  her  whole  subsequent  career  and  led  her  into  a 
new  world  of  thought  and  feeling,  was  Goethe. 
In  his  masterly  analysis  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
character  and  larger  inner  life,  Emerson  writes: 

uDante,  Petrarca,  Tasso,  were  her  friends 
among  the  old  poets, — for  to  Ariosto  she  assigned 
a  far  lower  place, — Alfieri  and  Manzoni,  among 
the  new.  But  what  was  of  still  more  import  to  her 
education,  she  had  read  German  books,  and,  for 
the  three  years  before  I  knew  her,  almost  exclu 
sively, — Lessing,  Schiller,  Richter,  Tieck,  Novalis, 
and,  above  all,  GOETHE.  It  was  very  obvious, 
at  the  first  intercourse  with  her,  though  her  rich 
and  busy  mind  never  reproduced  undigested  read 
ing,  that  the  last  writer, — food  or  poison, — thex 
most  powerful  of  all  mental  reagents, — the  pivotal 
mind  in  modern  literature,  ....  — that  this 
mind  had  been  her  teacher,  and,  of  course,  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   53 

place  was  filled,  nor  was  there  room  for  any  other. 
She  had  that  symptom  which  appears  in  all 
students  of  Goethe — an  ill-dissembled  contempt  of 
all  criticism  on  him  which  they  hear  from  others, 
as  if  it  were  totally  irrelevant.  .  .  ." 

"The  effect  on  Margaret  was  complete,"  Emer 
son  continues.  "She  was  perfectly  timed  to  it.  She 
found  her  moods  met,  her  topics  treated,  the  lib 
erty  of  thought  she  loved,  the  same  climate  of 
mind.  Of  course,  this  book  [i.e.,  Goethe's  works] 
superseded  all  others,  for  the  time,  and  tinged 
deeply  all  her  thoughts.  The  religion,  the  science, 
the  Catholicism,  the  worship  of  art,  the  mysticism 
and  daemonology,  and  withal  the  clear  recog 
nition  of  moral  distinctions  as  final  and  eternal,  all 
charmed  her;  and  Faust,  and  Tasso,  and  Mignon, 
and  Makaria,  and  Iphigenie,  became  irresistible 
names.  It  was  one  of  those  agreeable  historical 
coincidences,  perhaps  invariable,  though  not  yet 
registered,  the  simultaneous  appearance  of  a 
teacher  and  of  pupils,  between  whom  exists  a 
strict  affinity."  x 

It  is  clearly  evident  from  this  passage  by  Emer 
son  and  from  other  passages  by  Margaret  Fuller 
herself,  which  are  to  follow,  that  Mr.  Higginson 

1  Memoirs,  I.  242  ff. 


54      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

in  his  biography  of  Margaret  Fuller  greatly  un 
derestimates  the  influence  of  Goethe  on  her  when 
he  tries  to  make  it  appear,  from  a  single  broken 
passage  quoted  from  one  of  her  letters,  that  she 
merely  looked  upon  Goethe  as  a  great  thinker, 
and  not  as  a  guide,  or  a  friend.1 

There  are,  however,  other  passages  here  and 
there,  throughout  her  works,  like  the  one  quoted 
by  Mr.  Higginson,  that  give  evidence  of  a  reminis 
cence  or  a  residue,  still  in  her  nature,  of  the  Puri 
tan  doctrines,  bequeathed  to  her  from  many  gen 
erations.  This  part  of  her  nature  continually 
struggled  for  utterance  against  the  broader  and 
more  comprehensive  views  of  life  taught  by 
Goethe.  Then,  too,  an  enormous  outside  pressure 
was  brought  to  bear  on  her  in  the  same  direction, 
since  so  far  as  spiritual  teaching  and  the  rigor  of 
their  asceticism  is  concerned,  the  Transcendental- 
ists  had  much  in  common  with  their  Puritan  an 
cestors.  These  combined  inner  and  outer  forces  in 
Margaret  Fuller's  case,  therefore,  were  not  wholly 
without  effect.  It  is  this  that  made  her  lean  at 
times  toward  an  unemotional  spirituality  and  rig- 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  283   ff. 

*For  a  description  of  the  difference  in  temperament  between 
Emerson  and  Margaret  Fuller,  by  Emerson  himself,  see  Mem- 
oirSy  I.  201  ff. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   55 

orism*  like  that  of  Emerson,  which  ordinarily  she 
condemned  in  him.  This  characteristic  of  her 
nature,  too,  probably  led  her  to  utter  the  passage 
upon  which  Dr.  H.  C.  Goddard  lays  so  much,  in 
fact  entirely  too  much  emphasis. 1  It  is  also  be 
cause  of  this  inner  contention  that  she  sometimes 
fails  to  do  Goethe  and  his  principles  justice,  and 
here  and  there  makes  contradictory  statements 
concerning  her  relation  to  him.  That  this  struggle 
lasted  at  least  until  a  few  years  before  the  end 
of  her  life,  is  evident  from  her  letters,  her  pre 
face  to  the  translation  of  Goethe's  Conversations 
with  Eckermann;  and  from  the  last  one  of  her 
two  articles  on  Goethe  in  the  Dial. 2 

Nowhere  is  the  evidence  of  this  inner  strife 
clearer  than  in  this  last-named  article,  nor  the 
victory  of  the  Goethean  spirit  more  supreme.  We 
can  only  judge  that  in  all  other  cases,  like  this, 
something  similar  took  place,  i.  e.,  there  was  a 
momentary  struggle.  But  if  we  study  her  doctrine 
of  character-building,  her  relation  to  her  friends, 
her  acts — in  short  her  whole  life  and  development 
—we  see  that,  consciously  or  unconsciously  (prob 
ably  for  the  most  part  unconsciously)  she  was, 

1  Studies  in  New  England  Transcendentalism,  by  H.  C.  God 
dard,  p.  137. 
-  Dial,  Vol.  II,  No.  i,  1841.    Life  Without  and  Life  Within,^.2^  ff. 


56      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

as  Emerson  correctly  says,  a  most  faithful  pupil 
and  follower  of  Goethe. 

After  true  Puritan  fashion  she  speaks  at  the 
beginning  of  the  article  in  the  Dial,  just  men 
tioned,  of  Goethe's  intellect  "too  much  developed 
in  proportion  to  the  moral  nature,"  "Naturally 
of  a  deep  mind  and  a  shallow  heart,"  wanting  in 
"the  sweetness  of  piety,"  and  "cold,  setting  him 
self  apart  from  his  true  peers,  the  real  sovereigns 
of  Weimar— Herder,  Wieland  and  the  others."  * 
But  almost  immediately  after  her  first  statement 
she  thrusts  in  a  doubt  to  soften  and  tone  it  down, 
saying:  "It  is  difficult  to  speak  [thus  of  such  men 
as  Goethe]  without  seeming  narrow,  blind,  and 
impertinent.  .  .  .  For  ...  if  you  feel  a  want  of 
a  faculty  in  them,  it  is  hard  to  say  they  have  it  not, 
lest,  next  moment,  they  puzzle  you  by  giving  you 
some  indication  of  it."  And  in  a  passage  from  a 
letter,  written  in  1836,  she  says  the  same  thing  of 
Goethe  more  directly:  "Yet  often,  when  sus 
pecting  that  I  have  found  a  huge  gap,  the  next 
turning  it  appears  that  it  was  but  an  airhole,  and 
there  is  a  brick  all  ready  to  stop  it."  3 

Only  a  few  passages  further  in  the  article  in  the 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  23  ff. 

2  Ibid,  p.  24. 

s  Memoirs,  I.  167. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   57 

Dial,  when  speaking  of  Goethe's  Tasso,  she  no 
longer  feels  what  she  has  written  at  the  beginning 
and  praises  highly  the  tenderness,  the  "depth  and 
fullness"  which  Goethe  has  given  to  Tasso's  char 
acter,  and  his  "entire  abandonment  to  the  highest 
nature."  "But,  you  say,"  she  continues,  "there  is 
no  likeness  between  Goethe  and  Tasso.  Never 
believe  it;  such  pictures  are  not  painted  from  ob 
servation  merely.  That  deep  coloring  which  fills 
them  with  light  and  life  is  given  by  dipping  the 
brush  in  one's  own  life-blood."  x  This  surely  is 
not  in  harmony  with  her  accusation  that  Goethe 
was  "cold"  and  of  a  "shallow  heart,"  or  too  in 
tellectual.  Three  pages  further  Margaret  Fuller 
praises  the  "wise  mind  of  the  duchess,"  Amalia, 
for  giving  the  first  impulse  to  Goethe's  "noble 
course"  at  Weimar,  contradicting  exactly  what 
she  said  of  his  course  here  at  the  beginning  of  the 
article.2 

A  little  further  on  her  feeling  for  Goethe  be 
comes  still  stronger.  "One  is  ashamed,"  she 
writes,  "when  finding  any  fault  with  one  like 
Goethe,  who  is  so  great.  It  seems  the  only  criti 
cism  should  be  to  do  all  he  omitted  to  do,  and  that 
none  who  cannot  is  entitled  to  say  a  word."  3 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  28. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  31.  3Ibid.,  p.  45. 


58      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Just  a  few  pages  further,  after  defending  most 
vigorously  the  Elective  Affinities,  against  all  the 
absurd  and  bitter  criticism  heaped  upon  it,  and 
losing  herself,  heart  and  soul  in  the  sweetness  and 
purity  of  the  character  of  Ottilia,  she  says,  even 
before  taking  up  such  a  character  as  Goethe's 
Iphigenie:  "At  this  moment,  remembering  what 
I  then  [at  the  beginning  of  the  article]  felt,  I  am 
inclined  to  class  all  my  negations  just  written  on 
this  paper  as  stuff,  and  look  upon  myself,  for 
thinking  them,  with  as  much  contempt  as  Mr.  Car- 
lyle,  or  Mrs.  Austin,  or  Mrs.  Jameson  might  do, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  German  Goetheans."  x 

At  the  end  of  the  article  after  analyzing  "Iphi 
genie,"  she  calls  Goethe  "the  brightest  star  in 
a  new  constellation"  and  closes  by  appealing  to 
her  readers,  in  Goethe's  behalf:  "Let  us  enter 
into  his  higher  tendency,  thank  him  for  such  angels 
as  Iphigenie,  whose  simple  truth  mocks  at  all  his 
wise  'Beschrankungen',  and  hope  the  hour  when, 
girt  about  with  many  such,  he  will  confess,  contrary 
to  his  opinion,  given  in  his  latest  days,  that  it  is 
well  worth  while  to  live  seventy  years,  if  only  to 
find  that  they  are  nothing  in  the  sight  of  God." 

After   reading   this    it   would   seem   perfectly 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  51. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  60. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   59 

absurd  to  claim  that  Margaret  Fuller  at  this 
period  (1841)  was  no  longer  favorably  inclined 
toward  Goethe,  or  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  him; 
or  that  his  powerful  influence  was  (no  longer 
exerted  upon  her.  One  who  had  read  nothing  else 
of  hers,  might  be  tempted  to  believe  she  simply 
made  the  statements  against  the  great  poet,  in  the 
beginning  of  her  article,  statements  expressing  a 
feeling  against  Goethe  so  common  in  New  Eng 
land  at  the  time,  in  order  to  tear  them  to  pieces 
later  on  and  prove  the  contrary.  Especially  strong 
is  this  temptation  after  reading  her  masterly  de 
fense  of  Goethe  in  her  article  just  preceding  this 
one,  against  Wolfgang  Menzel,  whose  criticism 
attacking  Goethe  had  been  translated  by  Professor 
Felton  of  Harvard  College. 

It  is,  however,  true  that  Margaret  Fuller  did 
not  slavishly  follow  and  imitate  Goethe.  "Her 
rich  and  busy  mind,"  in  the  words  of  Emerson, 
was  never  paralyzed  in  the  presence  of  her  great 
master,  nor  did  she  ever  "reproduce  undigested 
reading."  She  was  too  original  for  that,  and  her 
personality  too  strong.  She  did  not  cease  think 
ing  on  her  own  part  nor  did  she  give  up  in  any 
way  her  intellectual  independence.  The  most  be 
neficent  influence  that  any  great  poet  or  thinker  can 


60   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

exercise  upon  us,  is  not  to  cause  us  to  follow  vassal- 
like  in  his  train,  but  to  stimulate,  to  inspire  in  us 
great  and  noble  thoughts,  to  call  out  all  the  latent 
energies  and  powers  of  the  soul,  and  to  develop 
them  to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection  and  inde 
pendence.  This  is  chiefly  what  Goethe  did  for 
Margaret  Fuller. 

Goethe  had  above  all  other  poets  the  special 
faculty  and  power  to  free  and  call  out  most  forci 
bly  the  ego,  the  real  "I."  In  fact  nobody  has  ever 
been  so  powerful  to  develop  the  personality  in  his 
followers,  or  as  he  calls  them,  his  "Gemeinde,"  as 
he.  This  is  clearly  pointed  out  in  an  extract  from 
the  lectures  of  Rudolph  Hildebrand  on  Goethe's 
lyric  poetry. 1  Theodor  Creizenach  lays  em 
phasis  upon  this  same  power  of  the  great  German 
poet.2  Both  of  these  distinguished  critics  of 
Goethe,  especially  the  first  mentioned,  show  how 
Goethe  rediscovered  that  which  is  the  real  human 
part  in  man,  the  mainspring  of  character  and  per 
sonality,  so  long  lost  sight  of  and  buried  under 
neath  the  heap  of  debris  of  mere  intellectual 
knowledge,  which  had  accumulated  for  ages.  He 

1  Lectures    of    R.    Hildebrand,    published    by    Julius    Goebel, 
Goethe  Jahrbuch,  Vol.  XXII.  205  ff. 

2  Goethe  ah  Befreier,  by  Theodor  Creizenach.     Goethe  Jahr- 
bn'h,  Vol.  XXII.  131   ff. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE  61 

laid  stress  once  more  upon  the  inner  life  of  man, 
the  real  motive  forces  in  the  soul,  that  go  to  make 
up  character.  This  force,  Goethe  showed,  does  not 
consist  in — nor  is  it  the  result  of — mere  knowledge, 
but  it  is  the  very  essence  of  our  personality:  "das 
Unerkannteste  und  Unerkennbarste,  und  doch 
Gewisseste  in  uns,"  *  which  he,  as  a  poet  intends 
to  bring  out  and  liberate.  It  is  an  appeal  to  the 
heart,  to  the  whole  inner  soul  of  man.  Here  is  the 
whole  secret: — Mind  and  heart,  will  and  emotions 
must  both  be  called  out,  reconciled,  and  go  hand  in 
hand.  Character  and  a  harmonious  personality 
are  the  result  of  a  proper  education  of  all  these 
conjointly.  Goethe  thus  may  justly  call  himself  a 
liberator,  and  say,  he  has  freed  us  "from  the 
snares  of  pedants. "  * 

Edward  Everett  Hale,  too,  saw  this  mission  of 
Goethe  as  a  liberator  of  the  soul  from  the  tyranny 
of  intellectual  knowledge,  for  he  writes  concern 
ing  J.  F.  Clarke,  and  his  fellow-students  in  the 
Divinity  School  at  just  this  time :  "These  young 
men  could  not  read  their  Coleridge  or  their 
Goethe  without  emancipating  themselves  at  once 
from  the  wooden  philosophy  of  John  Locke,  over 

*  "The  least  known  and  least  knowable,  and  yet  that  within 
us  of  which  we  are  the  most  certain." 
1  Goethe's  Werke.     Hempel  edition,  III.  267. 


62      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

which  they  had  been  made  to  hammer  as  under 
graduates."  1  It  is  especially  in  his  lyric  poetry 
that  Goethe  succeeds  so  well  in  liberating  our  Ego 
— in  awakening  our  innermost  feelings  and  devel 
oping  the  emotional  side  of  character  to  balance 
the  intellectual.  Goethe  fulfills  this,  his  mission 
as  a  poet,  as  he  calls  it  in  his  poem  Fermdchtniss, 
by  leading  the  way  in  which  we,  as  emotional  be 
ings,  are  to  follow. 

"Derm  edlen  Seelen  vorzufilhlen 
1st  wiinschenswertester  Beruf."*2 

Few  persons  felt  his  liberating  influence  more 
deeply  than  did  Margaret  Fuller.  How  ripe  and 
ready  she  really  was  for  the  full  force  and  effect 
of  such  an  appeal,  is  seen  from  her  letter  quoted 
in  the  last  pages  of  the  preceding  chapter  of  this 
present  treatise.  How  remarkably  Goethe's  in 
fluence  acted  upon  Margaret  Fuller,  how  com 
pletely  carried  away  she  now  was  with  him,  and 
how,  docile  as  a  child,  she  filled  her  mind  and  heart 

1  Autobiography,   Diary,   and   Correspondence   of   James  Free 
man  Clarke,  p.  89  f. 

*  "For  to  lead  noble  souls  in  their  feeling 

[literally,   to   feel    for   them    beforehand,    so   that   they   might 

follow] 

Is  the  most  desirable  of  callings." 
1  Goethe's  Werke,  Hempel  edition,  III.  192. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   63 

with  some  part  of  the  "Great  Sage's"  teaching 
every  day,  the  following  passages  show  most  con 
clusively.  She  was  practically  re-educated,  mind 
and  soul.  Her  feelings  and  inner  life  were 
awakened  and  called  out;  and  finally  she  emerged 
from  these  years  of  the  study  of  "Our  Master 
Goethe,"  as  she  confidently  calls  him,1  an  altered 
being  and  a  strong,  fully  developed  personality. 
She  writes  in  1832  : 

"It  seems  to  me  as  if  the  mind  of  Goethe  had 
embraced  the  universe.  I  have  felt  this  lately,  in 
reading  his  lyric  poems.  I  am  enchanted  while 
I  read.  He  comprehends  every  feeling  I  have 
ever  had  so  perfectly,  expresses  it  so  beautifully; 
but  when  I  shut  the  book,  it  seems  as  if  I  had  lost 
my  personal  identity;  all  my  feelings  linked  with 
such  an  immense  variety  that  belong  to  beings  I 
had  thought  so  different.  What  can  I  bring? 
There  is  no  answer  in  my  mind,  except  'It  is  so,'  or 
'It  will  be  so,'  or  'No  doubt  such  and  such  feel  so.' 
Yet,  while  my  judgement  becomes  daily  more 
tolerant  toward  others,  the  same  attracting  and 
repelling  work  is  going  on  in  my  feelings.  But  I 
persevere  in  reading  the  great  sage,  some  part  of 
every  day,  hoping  the  time  will  come,  when  I  shall 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  135. 


64      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

not  feel  so  overwhelmed,  and  leave  off  this  habit 
of  wishing  to  grasp  the  whole,  and  be  contented  to 
learn  a  little  every  day,  as  becomes  a  pupil."  * 

In  another  passage,  written  the  following  year, 
the  same  longing  for  a  further  inner  development, 
as  "Nature  intended,"  is  clearly  expressed.  She 
would  like  to  go  to  Goethe  in  her  perplexity  and 
accept  him  both  as  a  wise  friend  and  a  guide. 

"How  often  I  have  thought,  if  I  could  see 
Goethe,  and  tell  him  my  state  of  mind,  he  would 
support  and  guide  me !  He  would  be  able  to  un 
derstand;  he  would  show  me  how  to  rule  circum 
stances,  instead  of  being  ruled  by  them;  and, 
above  all,  he  would  not  have  been  so  sure  that  all 
would  be  for  the  best,  without  our  making  an  ef 
fort  to  act  out  the  oracles ;  he  would  have  wished 
to  see  me  what  Nature  intended." 

"I  constantly  think  of  Goethe,"  she  writes 
again,  "while  I  see  life  overgrowing  thought  as 
soon  as  it  has  expressed  it.  He  is  the  light  of  the 
age,  vivid.  I  learn  all  the  other  men  from  him, 
him  from  them."  3 

In  the  following  passage,  written  in  1833,  in  an 
hour  of  sadness  while  she  is  watching  beside  the 

1  Memoirs,  I.  119. 

2  Ibid.,  I.  122. 

8  Margaret  Fuller  MSS. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   65 

sick-bed,  Goethe  is  again  the  guide  and  solace  for 

her  soul.  "When  not  with ,  in  whose  room  I 

sit,  sewing,  and  waiting  upon  him,  or  reading 
aloud  a  great  part  of  the  day,  I  solace  my  soul 
with  Goethe,  and  follow  his  guidance  into  realms 
of  the  'Wahren,  Guten,  and  Schonen'."  ** 

In  another  letter  Margaret  Fuller  speaks  of  the 
inspiration  she  received  from  Goethe,  the  fresh 
impulse  for  action  and  for  exerting  her  person 
ality,  in  short  "to  live  as  he  did." 

"Three  or  four  afternoons  I  have  passed  very 
happily  at  my  beloved  haunt  in  the  wood,  reading 
Goethe's  'second  Residence  in  Rome'.  Your  pen 
cil  marks  show  that  you  have  been  before  me. 
I  shut  the  book  each  time  with  an  earnest  desire 
to  live  as  he  did — always  to  have  some  engrossing 
object  of  pursuit.  I  sympathize  deeply  with  a 
mind  in  that  state.  While  mine  is  being  used  up 
by  ounces,  I  wish  pailfuls  might  be  poured  into  it. 
I  am  dejected  and  uneasy  when  I  see  no  results 
from  my  daily  existence,  but  I  am  suffocated  and 
lost  when  I  have  not  the  bright  feeling  of  progres 
sion."  2 

Writing   of  the   remaining  works   of   Goethe 

1  Memoirs,  I.  146. 

*The  True,  Good,  and  Beautiful. 

2  Memoirs,  I.   121  f. 


66      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

which  she  had  not  yet  read,  but  was  now  reading,* 
she  says:  "I  have  with  me  those  works  of  Goethe 
which  I  have  not  yet  read,  and  am  now  engaged 
upon  'Kunst  und  Altertum,'  und  'Campagne 
in  Frankreich.'  I  still  prefer  reading  Goethe 
to  anyone  else,  and  as  I  proceed  find  more 
and  more  to  learn."1  Three  years  later,  though 
she  had  lost  a  little  of  her  first  ardor  for  Goethe, 
and  had  not  yet  entirely  succeeded  in  sounding  the 
depth  of  his  philosophy  of  life,  she  is  still  willing 
to  follow  his  lead.  "I  do  not  know  our  Goethe 
yet,"  she  writes,  "I  have  changed  my  opinion 
about  his  religious  views  many  times;"  but  she  is 
still  ready  "to  try  his  philosophy,  and,  if  needs 
must  play  the  Eclectic."  On  her  birthday,  1836, 
when  reading  Goethe's  Lebensregeln,  she  con 
cludes,  "I  will  endeavor  to  profit  by  the  instruction 
of  the  great  philosopher,  who  teaches,  I  think, 
what  Christ  did,  to  use  without  overvaluing  the 
world."  3 

Her  enthusiasm  went  even  further,  so  far  in 
fact,   that   she   earnestly   desired  her   friends   to 

*  She  read  probably  in  all  fifty-five  volumes  of  Goethe,  the 
number  Emerson  had  in  his  library,  and  of  which  she  made 
use  at  this  time. 

1  Margaret    Fuller     MSS.     in    Boston     Public    Library ;     also 
Memoirs,  I.  147. 

2  Memoirs,  I.  167. 
"Ibid.,  161. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE   67 

share  it  with  her.  "It  is  my  earnest  wish,"  she 
writes,  "to  interpret  the  German  authors  of  whom 
I  am  most  fond  to  such  Americans  as  are  ready 
to  receive.  ...  I  hope  a  periodical  may  arise,  by 
and  by,  which  may  think  me  worthy  to  furnish  a 
series  of  articles  on  German  literature,  giving 
room  enough  and  perfect  freedom  to  say  what  I 
please."  1 

Her  opinions  of  Goethe's  doctrines  are  so  well 
grounded  five  years  after  she  had  begun  to  study 
him  that  she  writes  in  1837,  when  seeking  ma 
terial  for  her  "Life  of  Goethe :  "  "Of  course,  my 
impression  of  Goethe's  works  cannot  be  influenced 
by  information  I  get  about  his  life."  He  is,  and 
remains  for  her  what  she  herself  has  named  him: 
"High  priest  of  truth,  and  best  lover  of  man."3 
In  the  Preface  to  her  translation  of  Eckermann's 
Conversations  with  Goethe  she  recognizes  even 
a  closer  union  and  affectionately  calls  him  "My 
parent."  4 

The  following  passage,  written  probably  some 
years  later,  shows  how  clearly  she  saw  the  great 
development  that  had  taken  place  in  her  character 

1  Memoirs,  I.  168. 

2  Ibid.,  129. 

3  Reminiscences  of  Edna  Dow  Cheney,  p.  208. 

4  Translator's     Preface     to     Eckermann's     Conversations     with 
Goethe,  p.  xix. 


68   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

and  personality,  as  a  result  of  her  studies  and  in 
ner  experiences.  "I  mourned,"  she  writes,  "that 
I  never  should  have  a  thorough  experience  of 
life,  never  know  the  full  riches  of  my  being;  I 
was  proud  that  I  was  to  test  myself  in  the  sternest 
way,  that  I  was  always  to  return  to  myself,  to  be 
my  own  priest,  pupil,  parent,  child,  husband,  and 
wife.  All  this  I  did  not  understand  as  I  do  now; 
but  this  destiny  of  the  thinker,  and  (shall  I  dare 
say  it?)  of  the  poetic  priestess,  ....  lay  yet 
enfolded  in  my  mind."  1 

That  this  growth  of  her  inner  life  under  the 
influence  of  Goethe  did  not  cease  after  a  few 
years,  but  continued  uninterruptedly  is  clear.  As 
late  as  her  editorship  of  the  Dial  (1840-42)  she 
writes:  "He  [Goethe]  obliges  us  to  live  and 
grow,  that  we  may  walk  by  his  side ;  vainly  we 
strive  to  leave  him  behind  in  some  niche  of  the  hall 
of  our  ancestors;  a  few  steps  onward  and  we 
find  him  again,  of  yet  serener  eye  and  more  tower 
ing  mien  than  on  his  other  pedestal." 

From  the  evidence  in  the  foregoing  passages  it 
is  perfectly  clear,  as  Emerson  writes,  that  "No 
where  did  Goethe  find  a  braver,  more  intelligent, 


1  Memoirs,  I.  99. 

2  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  14. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HER  INNER  LIFE  69 

or  more  sympathetic  reader,"  *  and  that  "the  effect 
on  Margaret  was  complete."  This  influence,  too, 
was  permanent,  for  Emerson  writes  that  by  the 
time  he  learned  to  know  her  well  in  1836,  the 
main  problems  of  human  life  had  been  scanned, 
interrogated,  and  settled  by  her.2  One  of  her 
greatest  desires  had  been  a  development  accord 
ing  to  nature,  a  rounding  out  of  her  whole  being. 
Here  in  her  study  of  Goethe,  as  we  saw,  she  found 
"her  moods  met,"  the  suggestions  she  needed,  and 
the  opportunities  she  sought.  A  new  light  fell 
upon  her  soul.  The  result  was  as  if  new  blood 
had  rushed  through  her  veins.  Her  personality 
developed,  her  character  rounded  out,  and  her 
mind  broadened.  The  "infinite  curiosity  to  know 
individuals"  was  satisfied,  and  as  J.  F.  Clarke 
writes,  she  studied  character,  and  acquired  "the 
power  of  exerting  profoundest  influence  on  in 
dividual  souls."  3  She  was  filled  with  a  new  im 
pulse  for  action  and  a  longing  desire  to  exert  her 
personality;  to  carry  into  execution  her  new  ideals 
and  plans  of  life.  "It  will  be  long,"  she  writes 
when  studying  Goethe  and  meditating  a  work  on 
his  life,  "before  I  can  give  a  distinct,  and  at  the 
same  time  concise  account  of  my  present  state.  I 

1  Memoirs,  I.  243.  2Ibid.,  I.  291.  s  Ibid.,  65  f. 


70      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

believe  it  is  a  great  era.  I  am  thinking  now — 
really  thinking,  I  believe;  certainly  it  seems  as  if 
I  had  never  done  so  before.  If  it  does  not  kill  me, 
something  will  come  of  it,  never  was  my  mind  so 
active;  and  the  subjects  are  God,  the  universe,  im 
mortality."  ^ 

The  stamp  and  effect  of  her  Goethe  study  were 
there  to  stay.  Though  she  may  later  have  lost  a 
little  of  her  first  enthusiasm  for  the  great  author, 
she  nevertheless,  unconscious  of  his  great  influence, 
continued  to  develop  harmoniously  all  her  higher 
powers,  in  exactly  the  same  manner  and  in  the 
same  direction  in  which  her  great  second  school 
master  had  taught  her  and  put  her  under  way. 
Her  whole  life  in  America,  and  later  in  Italy,  was 
in  conformity  to  the  great  principles  which  she 
had  learned  from  Goethe. 


1  Memoirs,  I.  128. 


Chapter  III 
RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE 

Nowhere  was  the  influence  of  the  study  of 
Goethe  upon  Margaret  Fuller  greater  than  upon 
her  religious  life  and  doctrines.  One  of  her  great 
objects  in  life,  according  to  her  own  statement, 
was  to  grow.  "This  aim  was  distinctly  appre 
hended  and  steadily  pursued  by  her  from  first  to 
last,"  writes  James  Freeman  Clarke.  "The  good 
and  the  evil  which  flow  from  this  great  idea  of 
self-development  she  fully  realized.  This  aim 
of  life,  originally  self-chosen,  was  made  much 
more  clear  to  her  mind  by  the  study  of  Goethe,1 
the  great  master  of  this  school,  in  whose  un 
equalled  eloquence  this  doctrine  acquires  an  almost 
irresistible  beauty  and  charm."  "It  was  a  high, 
noble  one,  this  aim  of  self-culture,"  continues 
Mr.  Clarke,  "wholly  religious,  almost  Christian. 
It  gave  dignity  to  her  whole  career,  and  made  it 

1  How  nearly  this  aim  in  her  life  coincides  with  the  Goethean 
doctrine  of  the  harmonious  development  of  the  personality  may 
be  further  seen  when  we  remember  that  exactly  the  same  thing, 
which  is  said  of  her  here,  was  also  said  of  Goethe  himself. 


72      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

heroic.  ...  If  she  ever  was  ambitious  of  knowl 
edge  and  talent,  as  a  means  of  excelling  others, 
and  gaining  fame,  position,  admiration, — this 
vanity  had  passed  before  I  knew  her,  and  was 
replaced  by  the  profound  desire  for  a  full  devel 
opment  of  her  whole  nature,  by  means  of  a  full 
experience  of  life."  *  Not  merely  forjier  own 
good  was  this  development  to  be;  it  was  also  to 
enable  her  better  to  carry  out  her  ideals  and  un 
dertakings  in  life,  which  were  indeed  noble  and 
public-spirited  enough.  "She  was  religious," 
writes  Mrs.  Howe,  one  of  Margaret  Fuller's  in 
timate  friends  and  admirers,  "in  her  recognition 
of  the  divine  element  in  human  experience,  and 
Christian  in  her  elevation  above  the  sordid  inter 
ests  of  life,  in  her  devotion  to  the  highest 
standards  of  duty  and  of  destiny."  2 

Margaret  Fuller  is  usually  associated — es 
pecially  by  later  writers — with  the  Transcendental 
Movement  in  New  England  and,  what  is  stranger, 
is  classed  as  one  of  the  leaders.3  It  seems  per 
fectly  evident,  however,  both  from  her  own 

1  Memoirs,  I.  132  f. 

2  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  30. 

8  Dr.  H.  C.  Goddard  in  his  work,  Studies  in  New  England 
Transcendentalism  (p.  8),  names  the  leaders  in  this  movement, 
among  whom  he  places  her,  "because,"  as  he  writes,  "common 
consent  seems  to  have  selected  them  [as  leaders]." 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  73 

statements,  and  the  differences  between  the  nature 
of  the  movement  and  her  philosophical  and  reli 
gious  belief,  that  she  was  not  a  Transcendentalist 
at  all,  much  less  a  leader  in  the  movement.  This 
fact  seems  to  have  been  clear  to  her  from  the  very 
start.  As  early  as  1835,  in  the  infancy  of  the 
movement,  she  writes  concerning  the  publication 
of  the  new  magazine  then  on  foot,  and  which 
later  appeared  as  the  Dial: — 

"I  shall  feel  myself  honored  if  I  am  deemed 
worthy  of  lending  a  hand,  albeit  I  fear  I  am 
merely  'Germanico'  and  not  'transcendental'." 

The  error  of  placing  her  among  the  Tran- 
scendentalists  seems  to  have  been  due  chiefly  to 
the  mere  fact  that  she  happened  to  be  associated, 
more  or  less  closely,  with  the  leaders  of  this  move 
ment,  as  well  as  to  the  broad,  elastic,  and  often 
very  vague  manner  in  which  the  term  "transcen 
dental"  was  used.  Mr.  T.  W.  Higginson,  writing, 
of  course,  from  a  purely  literary  standpoint,  goes 
very  little  further  in  his  definition  of  the  term 
than,  that  "the  Transcendental  movement 
amounted  essentially  to  this :  that  about  the  year 
1836  a  number  of  young  people  in  America  made 
the  discovery  that,  in  whatever  quarter  of  the 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  141. 


74      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

globe  they  happened  to  be,  it  was  possible  for 
them  to  take  a  look  at  the  stars  for  themselves," 
that  a  few  "fresh  thinkers,"  "apostles  of  the 
ideal,"  appeared  in  good  earnest  and  speculated 
in  philosophy  and  theology,  that  they  encouraged 
originality  and  looked  immediately  around  them 
for  their  stimulus,  scenery,  etc.,  in  the  literary 
works  they  produced,  and  that  they  had  a  power 
ful  influence  for  good  on  American  literature, 
generally.1  Of  course,  with  a  definition  of  Tran 
scendentalism  so  comprehensive  as  that,  Margaret 
Fuller  may  easily  be  classed  as  a  Transcendentalist ; 
but  other  contemporary  writers  whom  nobody  con 
nects  with  the  Transcendental  movement,  among 
them,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  and  Washington  Irving, 
also  found  their  stimulus  and  scenery  immediately 
about  them,  and  seem  to  have  been  tolerably  free 
from  imitation,  and  quite  original  in  their 
thoughts.  The  fact  is  that  the  term  "Transcen 
dental  Movement"  is  more  restricted  in  its  mean 
ing  than  the  definition  quoted  above.  It  was  a 
particular  and  tolerably  well-defined  philosophical 
and  religious  doctrine. 

The  term  "transcendental,"  as  applied  to  phi- 

1  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  133  ff. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  75 

losophy,  originated,  of  course,  with  Kant.  Emer 
son  says  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Dial; 

"What  is  popularly  called  transcendentalism 
among  us,  is  Idealism;  Idealism  as  it  appears  in 
1842.  .  .  .  The  Idealism  of  the  present  day  ac 
quired  the  name  of  Transcendental,  from  the  use 
of  that  term  by  Immanuel  Kant,  of  Konigsberg, 
who  replied  to  the  skeptical  philosophy  of  Locke, 
which  insisted  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  intel 
lect  which  was  not  previously  in  the  experience 
of  the  senses,  by  showing  that  there  was  a  very 
important  class  of  ideas  or  imperative  forms, 
which  did  not  come  by  experience,  but  through 
which  experience  was  acquired;  that  these  were 
intuitions  of  the  mind  itself;  and  he  denominated 
them  Transcendental  forms.  The  extraordinary 
profoundness  and  precision  of  that  man's  thinking 
have  given  vogue  to  his  nomenclature,  in  Europe 
and  America,  to  that  extent  that  whatever  belongs 
to  the  class  of  intuitive  thought  is  popularly  called 
at  the  present  day  Transcendental."  * 

Kant's  use  of  the  term,  as  Dr.  H.  C.  Goddard 
has  also  pointed  out,  was  more  technical  and  re 
stricted  than  that  usually  applied  to  it  by  the 
Transcendentalists  themselves.  In  the  introduc- 

,  III.  297  ff.     Emerson's   Works,  Vol.  I.  311  if. 


76      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

tion  to  the  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  Kant  clearly 
states  that  in  Transcendental  philosophy  no  con 
cepts  are  to  be  admitted  which  contain  anything 
empirical,  and  that  the  a  priori  knowledge  must 
be  perfectly  pure.  "Therefore,  although  the  high 
est  principles  of  morality  and  their  fundamental 
concepts  are  a  priori  knowledge,  they  do  not  be 
long  to  transcendental  philosophy,  because  the 
concepts  of  pleasure  and  pain,  desire,  inclination, 
free-will,  etc.,  which  are  all  of  empirical  origin 
must  here  be  presupposed.  Transcendental  phi 
losophy  is  the  wisdom  of  pure  speculative  reason. 
Everything  practical,  so  far  as  it  contains  motives, 
has  reference  to  sentiments,  and  these  belong  to 
empirical  sources  of  knowledge."1 

With  the  New  Englander  who  embraced  this 
originally  purely  philosophical  doctrine,  it  did  not 
long  remain  so.  With  him  the  vital  question  was, 
what  relation  did  this  philosophy  bear  to  religion; 
what  was  its  significance  to  the  moral  world,  to 
life  itself?  An  article  in  the  Dial  by  John  A. 
Saxton  entitled  "Prophecy — Transcendentalism — 
Progress,"  fitly  illustrates  how  the  special  signifi 
cance  that  this  doctrine  bears  to  the  idea  of  God, 
virtue,  and  the  immortal  soul  was  singled  out. 

1  Kant,  Introd.  to  Critique  of  Pure  Reason.    Transl.  by  F.  Max 
Miiller,  Vol.  II.  12  f. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  77 

"This  name  [Transcendentalism]  as  well  as 
that  of  Critical  Philosophy,  was  given  by  Kant,  a 
German  philosopher,  who  first  decisively  refuted 
the  theory  of  sensation,  and  gave  a  scientific  dem 
onstration  of  the  reality  and  authority  of  the 
spontaneous  reason.  .  .  .  Kant,  instead  of  at 
tempting  to  prove,  which  he  considered  vain,  the 
existence  of  God,  virtue,  and  immortal  soul,  by 
inference  drawn,  as  the  conclusion  of  all  philoso 
phy,  from  the  world  of  sense,  found  these  things 
written,  as  the  beginning  of  all  philosophy,  in 
obscured,  but  ineffaceable  characters,  within  our 
inmost  being,  and  themselves  first  affording  any 
certainty  and  clear  meaning  to  that  very  world 
of  sense,  by  which  we  endeavor  to  demonstrate 
them.  God  is,  nay  alone  is;  for  we  cannot  say 
with  like  emphasis  that  anything  else  is.  This 
is  the  absolute,  the  primitively  true,  which  the  phi 
losopher  seeks."  x 

Soon  other  elements  were  added,  some  philo 
sophical,  some  purely  literary;  then  all  these  ele 
ments  combined  were  grafted  on  to  the  stock  of 
the  Unitarian  church.  Perhaps  as  good  and  as 
concise  a  definition  of  New  England  Transcen 
dentalism  in  its  full  development  and  complexity 


*Dialt  II.  90  f. 


78      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

as  can  be  found  is  given  by  a  Transcendentalist 
himself,  W.  H.  Channing: 

"Transcendentalism  was  an  assertion  of  the 
inalienable  integrity  of  man,  of  the  immanence  of 
Divinity  in  instinct.  In  part,  it  was  a  reaction 
against  Puritan  Orthodoxy;  in  part,  an  effect  of 
renewed  study  of  the  ancients,  of  Oriental  Pan 
theists,  of  Plato  and  the  Alexandrians,  of  Plu 
tarch's  Morals,  Seneca  and  Epictetus;  in  part,  the 
natural  product  of  the  culture  of  the  place  and 
time.  On  the  somewhat  stunted  stock  of  Unitari- 
anism, — whose  characteristic  dogma  was  trust 
in  individual  reason  as  correlative  to  Supreme 
Wisdom, — had  been  grafted  German  Idealism,  as 
taught  by  the  masters  of  most  various  schools, 
by  Kant  and  Jacobi,  Fichte  and  Novalis,  Schelling 
and  Hegel,  Schleiermacher  and  De  Wette,  by 
Madame  de  Stael,  Cousin,  Coleridge,  Carlyle; 
and  the  result  was  a  vague  yet  exalting  conception 
of  the  godlike  nature  of  the  human  spirit.  .  .  . 
The  rise  of  this  enthusiasm  was  as  mysterious  as 
that  of  any  form  of  revival;  and  only  they  who 
were  of  the  faith  could  comprehend  how  bright 
was  this  morning-time  of  a  new  hope !  .  .  .  Tran 
scendentalism,  as  viewed  by  its  disciples,  was  a 
pilgrimage  from  the  idolatrous  world  of  creeds 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  79 

and  rituals  to  the  temple  of  the  Living  God  in 
the  soul.  It  was  a  putting  to  silence  of  tradition 
and  formulas  that  the  Sacred  Oracle  might  be 
heard  through  intuitions  of  the  single-eyed  and 
pure-hearted.  Amidst  materialists,  zealots,  and 
skeptics,  the  Transcendentalist  believed  in  per 
petual  inspiration,  the  miraculous  power  of  will, 
and  a  birth-right  to  universal  good."  1  It  was 
therefore,  as  Mrs.  Howe  said,  "A  new  church, 
with  the  joy  and  pain  of  a  new  evangel  in  its 
midst."  2 

Transcendentalism,  however,  was  like  Puritaji- 
ism  and  Unitarianism  before  it,  in  that  it  was 
purely  intellectual,  religious  and  moral,  with,  of 
course,  the  great  difference  that  it  was  infinitely 
more  liberal  and  free  from  pure  church  dogmatism 
than  the  first,  and  on  a  mnrh  loftier  plane  than 
either,- — since  it  contained  the  element  of  idealism 
taken  over  chiefly  from  the  German.  Neverthe- 
less,  there  was  in  Transcendentalism  an  element  of 
moral  rigorism  and  hidden  asceticism,  the  legacy 
of  Puritanism,  which  looked  with  disdain,  or  at 
least  with  distrust,  upon  the  sensual  nature  of 
man.  It  was  this  same  element  in  Kant's  phi 
losophy  which  so  strongly  appealed  to  the  Puritan 

1  Memoirs,  II.  12  f .  2  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  90. 


80   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Transcendentalists.  Despite  their  declamations 
about  art  and  poetry,  it  never  occurred  to  them 
that  true  art  and  true  poetry  pre-suppose  an  ideal 
of  man  which  presents  the  harmonious  unity  of 
both  the  sensual  and  the  spiritual  side  of  human 
nature.  We  must  consider  it  one  of  the  greatest 
achievements  of  Schiller,  that,  feeling  the  defect  in 
Kant's  attitude  and  doctrine,  he  presented  in 
his  great  aesthetic  essays  a  conception  of  beauty, 
and,  with  it,  a  new  ideal  of  man  far  superior  to 
that  of  Kant,  an  ideal  the  embodiment  of  which 
he  recognized  in  the  genius  and  personality  of 
Goethe. 

The  difference  between  the  Transcendental 
standpoint  and  the  aesthetic  view,  between  mere 
philosophic  speculation  and  a  harmoniously  devel 
oped,  healthy  humanity,  such  as  Margaret  Fuller 
believed  in,  cannot  be  expressed  better  than  by 
the  following  extract  from  one  of  Schiller's  letters 
to  Goethe  (July  9,  1796)  : 

"Innerhalb  der  aesthetischen  Geistesstimmung 
regt  sich  kein  Bediirfniss  nach  jenen  Trostgriin- 
den,  die  aus  der  Spekulation  geschopft  werden 
miissen;  sie  hat  Selbststandigkeit,  Unendlichkeit 
in  sich;  nur  wenn  sich  das  Sinnliche  und  das 
Moralische  im  Menschen  feindlich  entgegenstre- 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  81 

ben,  muss  bei  der  reinen  Vernunft  Hiilfe  gesucht 
werden.  Die  gestmde  und  schone  Natur  braucht, 
wie  Sie  selbst  sagen,keine Moral, keinNaturrecht, 
kerne  politische  Metaphysik:  Sie  hatten  ebensogut 
auch  hinzusetzen  konnen,  sie  braucht  keine  Gott- 
heit  .  .  .  um  sich  zu  stutzen  und  zu  halten."*1 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  owing  to  traditions 
inherited  from  the  Puritans  the  views  expressed 
in  this  passage  remained  a  closed  chapter  to  the 
Transcendentalists.  They  never  had,  nor  could 
they  have,  a  true  appreciation  of  aesthetic  beauty 
in  the  Goethe-Schiller  sense.  "Religion  opens 
her  arms  to  him  on  whom  beauty  is  lost,"  says 
Schiller.  Hence  the  fact  that  the  Transcendental 
movement,  important  as  it  was  in  the  intellectual 
life  of  America,  left  no  production  of  great  poetic 
merit.  Hence,  also,  a  certain  lack  of  apprecia 
tion  for  the  poetic  genius  of  Goethe  in  men  like 
Emerson,  who  with  this  mistaken  conception  of 
spirituality,  scented  in  Goethe  the  pagan.  Clearly 

*Within  the  aesthetic  temperament  there  is  no  need  for  those 
consolations  which  must  be  founded  upon  speculative  reasoning. 
It  is  independent,  eternal  in  itself.  Only  when  the  sensual  and 
the  moral  natures  in  man  are  at  enmity  with  each  other  must 
help  be  sought  in  pure  reason.  Nature  in  her  health  and  purity, 
needs,  as  you  say,  no  moral,  no  nature  laws,  no  politic  meta 
physics.  You  might  just  as  well  have  added,  it  needs  no  divinity 
...  to  lean  on  or  hold  to. 

1  Goethe-Schiller  Correspondence,  Schiller  to  Goethe,  July  9, 
1796. 


82      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

as  he  saw  what  Goethe  was  to  the  world  of  litera 
ture  and  thought,  his  admiration  for  him  was,  in 
his  own  words,  a  "qualified"  one.1 

Margaret  Fuller,  on  the  other  hand,  had 
imbibed  too  deeply  from  the  rejuvenating  fountain 
of  Goethe's  poetry  and  thought,  to  be  enticed  into 
the  caves  of  Transcendental  mysticism,  or  upon 
the  frosty  heights  of  an  imagined  spirituality.  It 
was  on  this  fundamental  Goethean  principle  that 
she  differed  from  all  the  Transcendentalists. 

It  is  true  that  both  systems  aim  at  a  high  degree 
of  perfection  in  human  character,  but  the  means 
by  which  they  hope  to  arrive  at  the  end  they  seek, 
as  well  as  the  character  of  their  final  aim,  are 
entirely  different.  Transcendentalism  seeks  to 
bring  man  to  the  desired  state  by  elevating  his 
thoughts  into  a  higher  realm,  intellectually  and 
religiously,  in  short  into  the  atmosphere  of  God 
himself,  through  the  divine  nature  of  his  own 
spirit.  The  Transcendentalist,  writes  W.  H. 
Channing,  "believed  in  perpetual  inspiration.  .  .  . 
He  sought  to  hold  communion  face  to  face  with  the 
unnameable  Spirit  of  his  spirit."2  The  other, 
somewhat  less  pretentious,  sought  the  highest  per- 

1  Carlyle-Emerson    Correspondence,    Vol.    I.    29  f.      Emerson's 
Works,  Vol.  IV.  notes,  p.  371.     See  Chapter  VI.  200  f. 

2  Memoirs,  II.  13. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  83 

fection  of  character  in  the  development  of  the 
truly  human,  through  experience  in  life,  by  a  full 
and  wise  exercise  of  the  natural  given  powers,  and 
by  trusting,  at  first  hand,  in  the  human  instincts 
as  a  divine  guide  for  life.  "There  is  an  only 
guide,"  says  Margaret  Fuller,  "the  voice  in  the 
Heart.  .  .  .  Thou  canst  not  stray  from  nature, 
nor  be  so  perverted,  but  she  will  make  thee  true 
again;"  1  or  as  Goethe,  her  teacher,  expresses  the 
same  doctrine : 

"1st  nicht  Kern  der  Natur 
Menschen  im   Herzen?"* 

Transcendentalism  is  by  nature  deeply  Chris 
tian  in  the  traditional  sense.  According  to  its 
teaching,  and  that  of  the  churches  related  to  it, 
the  chief  aim  of  man  on  earth  should  be  to  live 
a  religious  life.  In  the  Goethean  sense,  which 
Margaret  Fuller  represented,  purity  and  harmony 
of  character  is  the  chief  aim.  "At  present,  my 
soul  is  intent  on  this  life,"  she  writes,  "and  I_think 
of  religion  as  its  rule,  and,  in  my  opinion,  this 
is  the  natural  and  proper  course  from  youth  to 
age!"2  Or  as  Goethe  expresses  himself :  "From- 

1  Memoirs,  I.  an. 

*"Is  not  the  germ  of  nature 
In  the  heart  of  man?" 

2  Memoirs,  I.  136. 


84      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

migkeit  1st  kein  Zweck,  sondern  ein  Mittel,  um 
durch  die  reinste  Gemiitsruhe  zur  hochsten  Kultur 
zu  gelangen."  *1  The  aim  is  to  build  character 
and  to  fit  ourselves  to  live  properly  on  this  sphere, 
to  develop  our  being,  both  the  mortal  and  the  im- 
mortal  part,  to  its  highest  possible  expression  and 
perfection,  and  to  be  a  boon  to  our  fellow  beings ; 
and  then,  all  this  done,  without  any  anxiety  on 
our  part,  we  may  trust  Providence  to  take  care  of 
our  future. 

"Halte  dich  im  Stillen  rein, 
Und  lass  es  um  dich  wettern; 
Je  mehr  du  fiihlst  ein  Mensch  zu  sem 
Desto  dhnlicher  bist  du  den  Gottern."** 

To  developthe  human  part  of  ourselves  into  the 
image  of  God,  or  until  we,  ourselves,  are  like  the 
gods,  this  is  the  ultimate  aim.  That  Goethe  recog 
nized  his  doctrineTo  be  deeply  religious  is  clear 
from  the  lines  in  his  Zahmen  Xenien)  just  quoted. 
The  human  instincts,  too,  are  looked  upon  as  di- 

*  "Piety    is    not    an    end   but   a    means,   by   which    to    attain, 
through  the  purest  tranquillity  of  mind,  the  highest  culture." 
1  Spriiche  in  Prosa,  No.  41. 
**  "Keep  thyself  pure  in  quiet, 

And  let  it  storm  about  thee; 

The  more  a  human    (being)   thou  feele'st  thyself  to  be, 

The  more  thou  art  like  the  gods." 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  85 

vine,  as  they  also  are  in  the  Transcendental 
doctrine,  with  this  difference,  however:  that  in 
the  Goethean  doctrine  they  are  that  which  the 
individual  must  ultimately  turn  to  for  the  highest 
laws  of  his  inner  being.  In  the  other  this  is  not 
altogether  the  case.  In  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection,  according  to  Goethe,  the  individual 
recognizes  the  Divine  in  human  nature  itself. 
Since  God,  as  Goethe  believed  with  his  whole  soul, 
dwells  in  Nature,  he  must  also  dwell  in  the  heart 
of  man;  for  is  not  man  a  part  of  nature,  yea,  the 
highest  expression  of  Nature?  "Im  Innern  1st 
ein  Universum  auch,"  *x  he  says;  and  Margaret 
Fuller  prays:  UO  for  the  safe  and  natural  way 
of  Intuition!"  "O  for  a  more  calm,  more  pervad 
ing  faith  in  the  divinity  of  my  own  nature !"  It 
seems  that  James  Freeman  Clarke,  who  was  him 
self  deeply  influenced  by  Goethe,  had  the  distinc 
tion  between  these  two  systems  clearly  in  mind 
when  he  wrote  of  Margaret  Fuller's  aim  of  self- 
culture  :  "Wholly  religious,  and  almost  Christian,  I 
said,  was  this  aim.  ...  It  was  almost  Christian  in 
its  superiority  to  all  low,  worldly,  vulgar  thoughts 

*  "In  the  inner  (soul)  there  is  also  a  universe." 

1  Goethe's  Gedichte,  Hempel  ed.  II.  368. 

2  Memoirs,  I.  171,  176. 


86      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

and  cares;  in  its  recognition  of  a  high  standard  of 
duty,  and  a  great  destiny  for  man."  * 

A  letter,  written  probably  soon  after  Margaret 
Fuller's  acquaintance  with  Goethe,  sheds  still 
more  light  on  her  belief  and  philosophy  of  life, 
showing  how  she  rejected  all  systems  of  positive 
religion  and  stuck  to  her  idea  of  self-development 
through  experience  in  life,  "Loving  or  feeble  na 
tures  need  a  positive  religion,  a  visible  refuge,  a 
protection,  as  much  in  the  passionate  season  of 
youth  as  in  those  stages  nearer  to  the  grave.  But 
mine  is  not  such.  .  .  .  Tangible  promises !  Well- 
defined  hopes !  are  things  of  which  I  do  not  now, 
feel  the  need."  2  "I  cannot  endure,"  she  says  in 
another  passage,  uto  be  one  of  those  shallow  be 
ings  who  can  never  get  beyond  the  primer  of 
experience, — who  are  ever  saying, — 

'Ich  habe  geglaubt,  nun  glaub'  ich  erst  recht, 
Und  geht  es  auch  wunderlich,  geht  es  auch  schlecht, 
Ich  blefbe  im  glaubigen  Orden.'  "*3 

"When  disappointed,  I  do  not  ask  or  wish  conso- 

1  Memoirs,  I.  133. 

2  Ibid.,  I.   135. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  82. 

*  "I  have  believed,  now  I  believe  all  the  more, 

And  even  if  things  go  strangely,  even  if  they  go  wrong, 
I  will  remain  in  the  ranks  of  the  believing." 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  87 

lation, — I  wish  to  know  and  feel  my  pain,  to 
investigate  its  nature  and  its  source;  I  will  not 
have  my  thoughts  diverted,  or  my  feelings 
soothed."1 

How  near  this  is  to  what  Goethe  says  in  Faust 
(I.  1768  ff.)  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
passage: 

"Mein    Busen,    der   vom   Wissensdrang   geheilt   1st, 
Soil  keinen  Schmerzen  kiinftig  sich  verschliessen, 
Und  was  der  ganzen   Menschheit  zugeteilt  ist, 
Will  ich  in  meinem  innern  Selbst  geniessen, 
Mit  meinem  Geist  das  Hochst'  und  Tiefste  greifen, 
Ihr  Wohl  und  Weh  auf  meinen  Busen  haufen, 
Und  so  mein  eigen  Selbst  zu  ihrem  Selbst  erweitern, 
Und  wie  sie  selbst,  am  End'  auch  ich  zerscheitern."* 

Again,  the  following  passage  shows  how  thor 
oughly  Goethean  her  doctrine  really  was: — "I  do 
not  see  how  it  is  possible  to  go  further  beyond 
the  results  of  a  limited  human  experience  than 
those  do  who  pretend  to  settle  the  origin  and 

1  Memoirs,  I.  135. 

*  "My  bosom,  of  its  thirst  for  knowledge  sated. 

Shall  not,  henceforth,  from  any  pang  be  wrested, 

And  all  of  life  for  all  mankind  created 

Shall  be  within  mine  inmost  being  tested: 

The  highest,  lowest  forms  my  soul  shall  borrow, 

Shall  heap  upon  itself  their  bliss  and  sorrow, 

And  thus,  my  own  sole  self  to  all  their  selves  expanded, 

I  too,  at  last,  shall  with  them  all  be  stranded!" 

— Bayard  Taylor's   Translation. 


88      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

nature  of  sin,  the  final  destiny  of  souls,  and  the 
whole  plan  of  the  Causal  Spirit  with  regard  to 
them.  I  think  those  who  take  [this]  view  have 
not  examined  themselves,  and  do  not  know  the 
ground  on  which  they  stand." 

"I  acknowledge  no  limit,  set  up  by  man's 
opinion,  as  to  the  capacity  of  man.  'Care  is 
taken,1  I  see  it,  'that  the  trees  grow  not  up  into 
heaven';  but,  to  me  it  seems  the  more  vigorously 
they  aspire,  the  better.  Only  let  it  be  a  vigorous, 
not  a  partial  or  sickly  aspiration.  Let  not  the 
tree  forget  its  root."  "I  would  beat  with  the 
living  heart  of  the  world  and  understand  all  the 
moods,"  she  continues  in  exact  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  Faust  and  Wilhelm  Meister,  "even 
the  fancies  and  fantasies,  of  nature.  I  dare  to 
trust  to  the  interpreting  spirit  to  bring  me  out  all 
right  at  last, — establish  truth  through  error. 
Whether  this  be  the  best  way  is  of  no  consequence, 
if  it  be  the  one  individual  character  points 
out.  .  .  . 

I  the  truth  can  only  know, 
Tested  by  life's  most  fiery  glow. 

.  .  .  Let  me  stand  in  my  age  with  all  its  waters 
flowing  around  me.     If  they  sometimes  subdue, 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  89 

they  must  finally  upbear  me,  for  I  seek  the  uni 
versal, — and  that  must  be  the  best. 

"The  Spirit,  no  doubt,  leads  in  every  movement 
of  my  time :  if  I  seek  the  How,  I  shall  find  it,  as 
well  as  if  I  busied  myself  more  with  the  Why. 
Whatever  is,  is  right,  if  only  men  are  steadily 
bent  to  make  it  so,  by  comprehending  and  fulfilling 
its  design."  1 

A  passage  from  Margaret  Fuller's  Credo  of 
1842  shows  still  further  how  much  her  religious 
belief  really  differed  from  that  of  her  friends, — the 
Transcendentalists,  as  well  as  those  of  the  older 
faiths, — and  how  clear  this  difference  was  to  her. 

It  is  true  that  she  believed  the  Gospel  account 
of  Christ,  and  that  all  happened  just  as  it  is  re 
corded;  yet  to  her  the  chief  significance  of  such 
a  life  as  Christ's  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  presented 
to  her  an  illustration  of  the  ideal  truth.  This 
much  was  enough  for  her,  and  seemed  to  satisfy 
her  completely.2  In  her  Credo  she  calls  Christ 
"Redeemer,"  "Atoner,"  "Lamb  of  God,"  and 
"peculiarly  a  Messenger  and  Son  of  God;"  yet 
she  thoroughly  believes  with  Goethe*  that  all 

1  At  Home  and  Abroad,  p.  72  ff. 

2  See  Margaret  Fuller's  Credo;  Appendix,  p.  253. 

*  "It  is  right  that  forms  of  religion  should  not  be  bestowed 
directly  by  God  himself,  but  as  the  work  of  eminent  men." — 
Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe,  Feb.  28,  1830. 


90      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

great  geniuses  are  inspired,  and  are,  in  this  way, 
also  sons  of  God,  in  that  they,  too,  present  us 
with  higher  ideals  of  life  and  beauty,  whether 
moral,  mental,  or  physical.  She  believes  that  man 
in  his  highest  perfection  will  not  conform  to  the 
ideal  or  type  presented  by  any  one  of  the  great, 
inspired  geniuses,  but  that  he  will  embody  what 
is  highest  and  best  in  all  of  them,  in  short,  that 
he  "will  live  out  all  the  symbolical  forms  of 
human  life  with  the  calm  beauty  and  physical  ful 
ness  of  a  Greek  god,  with  the  deep  consciousness 
of  a  Moses,  with  the  holy  love  and  purity  of 
Jesus."  *  uYou  see,"  she  writes  in  commenting 
on  this  part  of  her  creed,  "how  wide  the  gulf 
that  separates  me  from  the  Christian  Church." 

Closely  related  to  this  idea  of  the  genius  is 
Margaret  Fuller's  conception  of  man's  mission 
as  a  creator.  In  the  Credo,  and  in  her  "Conver 
sations,"  she  devoted  much  thought  to  the  ques 
tion:  What  is  life?  and  what  relation  do  God 
and  man  bear  to  the  creation  and  development 
of  life  forms?  In  giving  a  definition  of  life  at 
one  of  the  "Conversations,"  one  of  her  reporters 
writes:  "She  began  with  God  as  spirit,  Life,  so 
full  as  to  create  and  love  eternally,  yet  capable 

1  See  Appendix,  p.  253  f.,  256. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  91 

of  pause.  Love  and  creativeness  are  dynamic 
forces,  out  of  which  we  individually,  as  creatures, 
go  forth  bearing  his  image,  that  is,  having  within 
our  being  the  same  dynamic  forces,  by  which  we 
also  add  constantly  to  the  total  sum  of  existence, 
and  shaking  off  ignorance,  and  its  effects,  and  by 
becoming  more  ourselves,  i.  e.,  more  divine;  [or 
as  Goethe  puts  it:  "Desto  ahnlicher  bist  du  den 
Gottern,"]  destroying  sin  in  its  principle,  we  at 
tain  to  absolute  freedom,  we  return  to  God,  con 
scious  like  himself,  and,  as  his  friends,  giving  as 
well  as  receiving  felicity  forevermore.  In  short 
we  become  gods  and  able  to  give  the  life  which 
we  now  feel  ourselves  able  only  to  receive."1 

There  is  no  question  that  Margaret  Fuller,  in 
placing  such  vital  emphasis  upon  life  and  activity, 
was  here  deeply  influenced  by  Goethe,  in  whose 
thinking  and  conduct  this  conception  of  life  was 
one  of  the  fundamental  principles. 

"The  highest  attribute  that  we  have  received 
from  God  and  nature,"  says  Goethe,  "  is  life,  the 
rotating  movement  of  the  monad  about  itself, 
which  knows  neither  rust  nor  rest.  The  impulse  to 
preserve  and  nourish  life  is  born  indestructibly  into 

1  Memoirs,  I.  346  f. 


92      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

every  one;  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  same 
remains,  however,  a  secret  to  us  and  others." 
uThe  second  gift  from  the  beings  operating  from 
above,"  Goethe  continues,  "is  the  experienced  in 
life,  the  becoming  conscious,  the  taking  part  of  the 
living,  active  monad  in  the  environments  of  the 
outer  world,  by  which  it  first  becomes  conscious  of 
itself  as  an  inner  infinite  and  externally  finite 
being."  1 

The  close  relation  between  these  thoughts  and 
those  expressed  by  Margaret  Fuller  in  the  extract 
quoted  from  her  "Conversations"  is  self-evident. 
The  attainment  of  this  absolute  inner  freedom,  of 
which  she  speaks  here,  Goethe  claimed  as  one 
of  his  great  achievements.  "Whoever,  has 
learned  to  understand  them  [Goethe's  writings] 
and  my  being,  at  all,"  he  said  to  Chancellor  von 
Muller  toward  the  end  of  his  life,  "will  have  to 
confess  that  he  has  gained  a  certain  inner  free 
dom."  The  same  claim  as  a  liberator  he  repeats 
in  the  verses: 

"Ihr  konnt  mir  immer  ungescheut, 
Wie  Bliichern,  Denkmal  setzen; 

^Spriiche  in  Prosa,   (1028),    (1029). 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  93 

Von  Franzen  hat  er  euch  befreit, 
Ich  von  Philisternetzen."* 

In  saying  "We  become  gods,  and  able  to  give 
the  life  which  we  now  feel  ourselves  able  only  to 
receive, — "  i.  e.,  we  become  creators — ,  Margaret 
Fuller  expresses  the  same  idea  that  Goethe  does 
in  his  poem,  Wiederfinden,  in  the  lines: 

"Allah  braucht  nicht  mehr  zu  schaffen, 
Wir  erschaffen  seine  Welt."** 

Also  in  the  poem  Ems  und  Alles  occur  these  lines : 

"Dann  mit  dem  Weltgeist  selbst  zu  ringen 
Wird  unserer  Krafte  Hochberuf."*** 

Margaret  Fuller's  deep  interest  in  Eckermann's 
Conversations  with  Goethe,  which  she  translated 
and  in  which  she  found  a  considerable  part  of  the 
ideas  expressed  in  her  Credo,  was  most  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  contained  so  many  of 

*  "You  may  always,  without  fear,  erect  to  me 
As  to  Bliicher,  monuments; 
He  has  freed  you  from  the  French, 
I,  from  the  snares  of  pedants." 
**  "Allah  needs  to  work  no  longer, 

We  create  his  world." 
***  "For  to  vie  with  the  world-spirit  itself, 

Becomes  the  high  calling  of  our  powers." 


94      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Goethe's  religious  views.  In  this  work  Goethe 
uses  many  expressions  concerning  man's  mission 
as  a  creator,  similar  to  those  of  Margaret  Fuller. 
Goethe's  Das  Gottliche  and  Prometheus,  both  of 
which  Margaret  Fuller  translated,  also  express 
the  same  ideas  and  appealed  to  her  strongly.1 
That  she  was  aroused  by  the  latter  poem  to  show 
the  same  Titanic,  Promethean  feelings  that  Goethe 
manifested  in  his  youth,  is  shown  by  the  following 
passage  from  one  of  her  letters,  quoted  by 
Emerson.  Sending  her  translation  of  Goethe's 
Prometheus  to  a  friend  she  writes: — "Which  of 
us  has  not  felt  the  questionings  expressed  in  this 
bold  fragment?  Does  it  not  seem,  were  we  gods 
or  could  steal  their  fire,  we  could  make  men  not 
only  happier,  but  free,  glorious?"2  No  Ameri 
can  critic  comes  as  near  as  she  here  does  to  a 
full  understanding  of  the  secret  of  Goethe's 
"Storm  and  Stress  period,"  and  the  true  mission 
of  his  work.  The  sober  Emerson,  saw,  of  course 
in  such  expressions  of  hers  only  the  presence  of 
"a  rather  mountainous  ME."  3 

From  a  thorough  study  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
Credo,  as  a  whole,  we  see  even  a  closer  relation 

1  See  Chapter  on  Interpretation  of  Goethe,  pp.  167,  237. 

2  Memoirs,  I.   235. 
"Ibid.,  p.  236. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  95 

between  her  conception  of  God,  man,  and  the 
universe,  and  that  of  Goethe  than  is  evident  from 
a  few  single  passages  picked  out  here  and  there 
at  random.  In  such  a  study  it  is  clear  that,  though 
Margaret  Fuller  has  all  existence  result  from 
"Spirit,"  yet  Goethe's  doctrine  of  Spirit-Nature 
was  in  her  mind;  since  this  spirit  (Weltseele) 
whose  "depths  are  unknown  to  itself,"  becomes 
conscious  only  by  living  and  "Seeks  to  know  it 
self"  in  the  working  principle  of  Nature,  "thus 
evolving  plants,  animals,  men,  suns,  etc."  This 
close  relation  is  evident  when  we  compare  what 
she  says  here  with  what  Goethe  says  in  his  poems, 
Proomion,  Ems  und  Alles,  and  in  Spriiche  in 
Pros  a  (912)  : 

Im  Namen  (lessen,  der  sick  selbst  erschuf! 
Von  Ewigkeit  im  schaffenden  Beruf; 

In  jenes  Namen,  der  so  oft  genannt, 

Dem  Wesen  nach  blieb  immer  unbekannt."1* 


1  Goethe's    Proomion. 

*  "In  the  name  of  him  who  made  himself! 

Who  from  eternity  was  employed  in  creating; 


In  his  name,  who  so  often  named, 

Has  ever  remained  unknown  as  to  the  nature  of  his  being." 


96      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Concerning  this  spirit  that  "manifests"  and 
"knows  itself"  in  its  creations,  compare: — 

"Was  war  ein  Gott,  der  nur  von  Aussen  stiesse, 
Im  Kreis  das  All  am  Finger  laufen  liesse! 
Ihm  ziemt's  die  Welt  im  Innern  zu  bewegen, 
Natur  in  sich,  sich  in  Natur  zu  hegen."*1 

And  of  the  continuity  of  this  creation  and  evolu 
tion  of  "congenial  forms,"  of  which  she  speaks, 
Goethe  says: 

"Und  umzuschaffen  das  Geschaffne, 
Damit  sich's  nicht  zum  Starren  waffne, 
Wirkt  lebendiges  Thun. 
Und  was  nicht  war,  nun  will  es  werden 
Zu  reinen  Sonnen,  farbigen  Erden.**2 

"Das  Werdende,  das  ewig  wirkt  und  lebt."***3 
Very  near  is  Margaret  Fuller's  conception  of 

*  "What   were    a    God   who   moved    [the   world]    only    from 

without, 

Who  let  the  All  circle  about  his  finger ! 
It  becomes  him  to  move  the  World  inwardly, 
To  preserve  Nature  in  himself,  himself  in  Nature" 
1  Goethe's  Gedichte,  Hempel  Ed.  II.  368. 
**  "And  to  re-create  the  created, 

That   it  may   not   become   barren   and   resist    [this   contin 
uous   process   of  creation] 
Calls   for  living  action. 

And  what  ne'er  was  is  on  the  point  of  becoming 
Pure  suns,  variegated  earths." — 2  Goethe's  Eins  und  Alles. 
***  "Th.e  becoming  [that  which  is  in  the  process  of  creation], 
which  ever  works  and  lives." — 3  Faust,  1.  346. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  97 

the  phenomena  of  the  All  and  the  activity  of  the 
creative  Spirit  (Weltseele),  which  she  describes  in 
the  Credo,  to  that  contained  in  Goethe's  Spruche 
in  Prosa  (912)  : 

"The  fundamental  characteristic  of  the  living 
unity  is:  to  separate,  to  unite,  to  lose  itself  in  the 
universal,  to  abide  in  the  particular,  to  transform 
itself,  to  specify  itself,  and  as  the  living,  to  demon 
strate  itself  under  a  thousand  conditions,  and 
again  to  emerge  and  to  disappear,  to  solidify  and 
to  melt,  to  coagulate  and  to  flow,  to  expand  and 
to  contract.  Now  because  all  these  actions  go  on 
in  the  same  moment  of  time,  every  and  each  phe 
nomenon  may  appear  at  the  same  time.  Coming 
into  existence  and  passing  away,  creating  and  de 
stroying,  birth  and  death,  joy  and  sorrow,  every 
thing  goes  on  in  confusion,  pell-mell,  in  the  same 
sense  and  in  the  same  measure;  for  that  reason, 
then,  the  most  extraordinary  that  takes  place,  al 
ways  appears  as  an  image  and  likeness  of  the  most 
universal." 

Concerning  the  manner  in  which  we  begin  to  in 
terpret  the  Universe  and  find  "deeper  depths 
opened  with  each  soul,"  by  breaking  through  an 
obstruction  uby  faith"  and  thus  making  new  dis- 


98      MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

coveries,  Goethe  again  says  in  Spruche  in  Prosa 

(903): 

"Everything  that  we  invent,  discover,  in  the 
higher  sense  call  by  name,  is  the  significant  putting 
into  execution,  the  giving  practical  proof  of  an 
original  feeling  for  truth,  which  long  since  de 
veloped  in  silence  unexpectedly,  and  as  quick  as 
lightning  leads  us  to  a  fruitful  perception.  It  is 
a  revelation  developed  from  within,  by  means  of 
the  external,  which  permits  man  to  have  a  presen 
timent  of  his  godlikeness.  It  is  a  synthesis  of 
World  and  Spirit,  which  gives  us  the  happiest  as 
surance  of  the  harmony  of  our  being." 

Further  on  in  the  Credo  is  also  Goethean 
thought,  though  clothed  in  the  language  of  the 
church.  She  probably  did  not  herself  realize  how 
much  she  was  under  the  influence  of  Goethe.  Even 
where  she  seemingly  opposes  him,  is  his  great  in 
fluence  evident.  Her  whole  religious  creed, 
though  containing  orthodox  church  ideas,  is  fun 
damentally  Goethean. 

Evil  (obstruction),  Margaret  Fuller  believed, 
is  as  necessary  in  the  grand  scheme  of  creation  and 
in  the  development  of  character,  as  good  (accom 
plishment).  This  doctrine — that  evil  is  only  the 
negative  side  of  good — appears  in  her  Credo,  her 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY  99 

letters,  and  in  many  of  her  principal  writings,  and 
corresponds  exactly  with  the  idea  expressed  by  the 
Lord  in  the  Prologue  in  Heaven  of  Goethe's 
Faust: 

"Des  Menschen  Tatigkeit  kann  allzuleicht  erschlaffen, 
Er  liebt  sich  bald  die  unbedingte  Ruh; 
Drum    geb'    ich    gern    ihm    den    Gessellen    [Mephis- 

topheles]  zu, 
Der  reizt  und  wirkt  und  muss  als  Teufel  schaffen."*1 

Again  in  the  words  of  Mephistopheles : 

"Ich  bin  ein  Teil  von  jener  Kraft, 
Die  stets  das  Bose  will  und  stets  das  Gute  schafrt."**2 

"Thus  after  an  unchanging  law  of  nature  evil 
even  has  brought  forth  good,"3  says  Herder. 
"All  destructive  forces  must  not  only  in  time  be 
subdued  by  the  forces  of  preservation,  but  must 
also  serve  to  help  in  the  building  up  of  the 

*  "Man's   active  nature,   flagging,  seeks  too  soon  the  level ; 
Unqualified  repose  he  learns  to  crave ; 
Whence,  willingly,  the  comrade  him  I  gave, 
Who  works,  excites,  and  must  create  as  Devil." 

— Bayard   Taylor's   Translation. 
'Goethe's  Faust,  11.  336  ff. 
**  "I  am  a  part  of  that  power 

Which  always  wills  the  bad,  and  ever  works  the  good." 

2  Goethe's  Faust,  11.  1335-36. 

3  Herder's  Ideen,  III.   327. 


ioo    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

whole."  x  "Despite  the  fact  that  the  destructive 
forces  in  man  are  his  passions,  the  latter  are  nec 
essary  to  prevent  him  from  'getting  fond  of  un-y 
conditional  repose'  .  .  .  Evil,  according  to  this 
conception,  acts  as  a  leaven,  a  fermentative  power, 
which  finally  produces  good."  2 

In  a  dialogue  which  Margaret  Fuller  wrote,  the 
two  characters  represented,  speaking  on  a  religious 
topic,  agree  "that  whatever  is,  is  good."  3  In 
another  instance  she  praises  the  doctrine,  "Resist 
not  evil,"  and  "every  man  his  own  priest,  and  the 
heart  the  only  true  church."  *  Again  one  of  the 
reporters  of  the  "Conversations"  writes:  "I  have 
thought,  sometimes,  that  her  acceptance  of  evil 
was  too  great, — that  the  theory  of  the  good  to  be 
educed  proved  too  much.  But  in  a  conversation 
I  had  with  her  yesterday,  I  understood  her  better 
than  I  had  done.  'It  might  never  be  sin  to  us,  at 
the  moment',  she  said,  'it  must  be  an  excess,  on 
which  conscience  puts  the  restraint'."  5  And  lastly 
Caroline  H.  Ball  writes:  "She  [Margaret  Ful 
ler]  believed  evil  to  be  a  good  in  the  grand  scheme 
of  things.  She  would  not  recognize  it  as  a  blunder. 

1  Herder's  Ideen,  p.  314. 

3  Goethe's  Faust,  Ed.  Goebel ;  Notes,  p.  264. 

*  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  185. 

4  At  Home  and  Abroad,  p.  55  f. 
6  Memoirs,  I.  350. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          101 

She  must  consider  its  scope  a  noble  one.  In  one 
word,  she  would  not  accept  the  world — for  she 
felt  within  herself  the  power  to  reject  it — did  she 
not  believe  evil  working  in  it  for  good!  Man  had 
gained  more  than  he  lost  by  his  fall."  1 

This  doctrine,  in  which  she  so  thoroughly  be 
lieved  is  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  Faust  and 
Willnelm  Meister.  There  is  little  doubt  that  she 
got  these  ideas  chiefly  from  these  works.  Cer 
tain  it  is  that  this  is  neither  Transcendental  nor 
Puritan  doctrine. 

Closely  associated  with  Margaret  Fuller's  doc 
trine  of  good  and  evil,  is  her  belief  in  a  complete 
abandonment  to  our  higher  nature.  She  had,  how 
ever,  absolutely  no  patience  with  those  who,  under 
this  pretext,  gave  themselves  over  to  their  pas 
sions,  or  who  allowed  sentimentality  to  master 
completely  their  whole  being.  It  is  thus  that  she 
criticises  sharply,  in  the  one  case,  George  Sand, 
and  in  the  other,  Bettine  Brentano,  "I  love  aban 
don  only  when  natures  are  capable  of  the  extreme 
reverse,"  she  says.2  Emerson  writes  that  in  life, 
"Margaret  suffered  no  vice  to  insult  her  presence, 
but  called  the  offender  to  instant  account,  when  the 

1  Margaret  and  Her  Friends,  p.  113  f. 

2  Memoirs,  I.  248, 


102    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

law  of  right  or  beauty  was  violated."  x  "Mar 
garet  crowned  all  her  talents  and  virtues  with  a 
love  of  truth,  and  the  power  to  speak  it,"  says 
Emerson  again.2  Horace  Greeley  emphasizes  the 
same  characteristic,  as  do  all  her  biographers. 
And  with  all  of  this  she  was  a  most  natural  woman. 
"I  love  best  to  be  a  woman,"  she,  herself,  said. 
And  Emerson  records,  that,  uln  character,  Mar 
garet  was,  of  all  she  had  beheld,  the  largest 
woman,  and  not  a  woman  who  wished  to  be  a 


man." 


It  is  clear  that  what  Margaret  Fuller  most  de 
sired  was  to  find  out  the  truth  of  human  nature; 
and  having  arrived  at  a  complete  understanding  of 
it,  ever  to  remain  true  to  its  highest  principles  and 
laws  of  development.  "Like  Goethe,"  she  writes, 
"I  have  never  given  way  to  my  feelings,  but  have 
lived  active,  thoughtful,  seeking  to  be  wise."  * 

Margaret  Fuller,  like  Goethe,  believed  that  a 
powerful,  if  not  the  most  powerful  agency  in  call 
ing  out  this  inner  life  of  feeling,  is  poetry.  She 
considered  it  "the  only  path  of  the  true  soul,"  and 
believed  that,  though  "we  might  not  always  be 
poetic  in  life,"  yet  "we  might  and  should  be  poetic 

1  Memoirs,  I.  306.  albid.,  p.  303. 

'Ibid.,  I.  300.  4 Ibid.,  p.  197. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         103 

in  our  thought  and  intention."  *  What  she  has 
in  mind  here  is  the  aesthetic  education  advocated 
by  Goethe,  and  especially  by  Schiller,  in  which 
poetry  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  agencies. 
What  a  quickening  influence  Goethe's  poetry  had 
upon  Margaret  Fuller's  inner  life  we  have  already 
seen.2 

Margaret  Fuller's  deep  interest  in  the  plastic 
arts  was,  according  to  Emerson,  first  inspired  by 
Goethe.3  When  we  read  her  letters  and  what  she 
says  on  the  subject  in  the  reports  of  her  "Boston 
Conversations,"  and  in  her  articles  in  the  Dial,4 
we  readily  see  the  relation  that  art  must  have 
borne  to  her  inner  life,  and  what  she  must  have 
contributed,  by  her  personal  influence  and  her 
writings,  to  the  rise  of  enthusiasm  for  the  fine  arts 
in  and  about  Boston,  during  her  time, — an  en 
thusiasm  that  has  grown  and  developed  until  the 
present  day.  "The  fine  arts,"  she  said,  "were 
one  compensation  for  the  necessary  prose  of  life, 
—for  not  being  able  to  live  out  our  poesy  amid 
the  conflicting  and  disturbing  forces  of  this  moral 
world  in  which  we  are."  Of  the  plastic  arts 

1  Memoirs,  I.  p.  341. 

2Cf.  p.   3. 

8  Memoirs,  I.  266  ff. 

4  Art,  Literature,  and  the  Drama,  284  ff. 


104    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Margaret  Fuller  preferred  sculpture.  "That 
was  grand,"  she  said,  "when  a  man  first  thought 
to  engrave  his  idea  of  man  upon  a  stone,  the 
most  unyielding  and  material  of  materials, — 
the  backbone  of  the  phenomenal  earth, — and 
when  he  did  not  succeed,  that  he  persevered; 
and  so  at  last,  by  repeated  efforts,  the  Apollo 
came  to  be."  Paintings  she  thought  worked  more 
by  illusion.  But  the  chief  of  arts  was  life  itself, 
of  which  all  other  arts  were  merely  beautiful 
symbols.1  Margaret  Fuller  did  not,  however, 
become  impractical,  because  she  tried  to  live  out  a 
poetic,  artistic  thought.  "She  did  not  permit  the 
search  for  the  beautiful  to  transcend  the  limits  of 
our  social  and  personal  duties,"  Mrs.  Howe  said. 
"The  pursuit  of  aesthetic  pleasure  might  lead  us 
to  fail  in  attaining  the  higher  beauty."  Not 
"Art  for  Art's  sake,"  merely,  but  for  drawing 
from  this  source  inspiration  for  building  up  a  beau 
tiful  and  harmonious  character,  and  a  sense  of  the 
beautiful  in  life :  this  was  her  doctrine,  like  that  of 
Goethe  and  Schiller  before  her.  She  tried  always 
to  arrive  at  the  truth  lying  back  of  beauty.  The 
two  ideas,  Beauty  and  Truth,  for  her,  were  in 
separable. 

1  Memoirs,  I.  340  ff.  2  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  112. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          105 

Nor  does  our  development,  according  to  her 
belief,  cease  in  this  present  life.  "I  believe  in 
Eternal  Progression,"  she  writes.  "I  believe  in  a 
God,  a  Beauty  and  Perfection  to  which  I  am  to 
strive  all  my  life  for  assimilation.  From  these 
two  articles  of  belief,  I  draw  the  rules  by  which 
I  strive  to  regulate  my  life."  *  This  same  doc 
trine,  that  we  pass  from  one  stage  to  another, 
through  a  series  of  lives  approaching  ever  nearer, 
in  our  development,  the  perfect  state,  is  expressed 
also  in  her  Credo?  This  present  life  represents 
merely  one  of  a  series  of  lives  we  live,  one  of  the 
several  stages  through  which  we  pass  on  our 
road  to  perfection.  Thus  she  criticizes  Goethe, 
for  remaining  in  court  circles  at  Weimar: — 
uPerhaps  Goethe  is  even  now  [a  decade  after 
his  death]  sensible  that  he  should  not  have  stopped 
at  Weimar  as  his  home,  but  made  it  one  station 
on  the  way  to  Paradise ;  not  stopped  at  humanity, 
but  regarded  it  as  symbolic  of  the  divine,  and 
given  to  others  to  feel  more  distinctly  the  center  of 
the  universe,  as  well  as  the  harmony  in  its  parts."3 

The  thought  that  Goethe  had  not  yet  reached 
his  highest  wisdom  and  perfection  is  also  indicated 

1  Memoirs,   I.    136. 

2  Cf.  Appendix,  p.  250  f. 

8  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  45. 


106   MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

at  the  end  of  her  second  article  in  the  Dial: — uLet 
us  enter  into  his  higher  tendency,  thank  him  for 
such  angels  as  Iphigenie,  whose  simple  truth  mocks 
at  all  his  wise  'Beschrankungen',  and  hope  the  hour 
when,  girt  about  with  many  such,  he  will  confess, 
contrary  to  his  opinion,  given  in  his  latest  days, 
that  it  is  well  worth  while  to  live  seventy  years,  if 
only  to  find  that  they  are  nothing  in  the  sight  of 
God."  1 

Here,  too,  we  find  the  same  thought  in  Goethe : 
"It  is  acknowledged  that  man  consists  of  two 
parts,  body  and  soul.  ...  I  doubt  not  of  our  im 
mortality,  for  nature  cannot  dispensewithourcon- 
tinued  activity."  2  "Christianity  has  a  might  of  its 
own,  lifting  up,  from  time  to  time,  dejected,  suf 
fering  humanity,  and  in  this  rises  above  all  philos 
ophy,  and  needs  no  support  therefrom.  Neither 
does  the  philosopher  need  the  support  of  religion 
to  prove  certain  doctrines;  for  instance,  that  exist 
ence  is  prolonged  into  eternity.  Man  must  be 
lieve  in  immortality;  this  belief  corresponds  with 
the  wants  of  his  nature.  .  .  .  To  me,  the  eternal  ex 
istence  of  my  soul  is  proved,  from  my  need  of  ac 
tivity;  if  I  work  incessantly  till  my  death,  nature  is 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  60. 

2  Conversations  with  Goethe,  p.  320. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         107 

pledged  to  give  me  another  form  of  being  when 
the  present  can  no  longer  sustain  my  spirit."  * 

Margaret  Fuller  inherited  still  another  charac 
teristic  of  her  belief  from  her  Master,  Goethe, 
namely,  her  belief  in  daemonology.  As  Emerson 
has  pointed  out,  she  was  naturally  of  a  temper 
ament  to  whom  "coincidences,  good  and  bad, 
omens,  etc.,"  had  a  deep  significance.  This  pecul 
iar  characteristic  dated  back  to  her  youth  and  was 
originally  due,  probably,  to  an  overtaxed  nervous 
system,  and  to  poor  health  later  on.  It  is  easily 
seen  how  naturally  a  belief  in  daemonology,  such 
as  Goethe's,  would  appeal  to  her. 

"This  propensity,"  writes  Emerson,  "Margaret 
held  with  certain  tenets  of  fate,  which  always 
swayed  her,  and  which  Goethe,  who  had  found 
room  and  fine  names  for  all  this  in  his  system, 
had  encouraged;  and  I  may  add,  which  her  own 
experiences,  early  and  late,  seemed  strangely  to 
justify.  .  .  .  This  remote  seeking  for  the  decrees 
of  fate,  this  feeling  of  a  destiny,  casting  its 
shadows  from  the  very  morning  of  thought,  is  the 
most  beautiful  species  of  idealism  in  our  day.  'Tis 
finely  manifested  in  Wallenstein."  2  Tasso,  Rous- 

1  Conversations    with    Goethe,    Margaret    Fuller's    translation, 
p.  270. 

Memoirs,  I.  222. 


Of    THE 

[   UNIVERSITY   ) 

OF 


io8    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

seau,  Goethe,  and  Napoleon  were,  she  believed, 
under  this  strange  influence  to  a  very  high  degree. 
She  of  course,  as  Emerson  has  said,  believed  that 
she,  too,  was  swayed  by  this  same  mysterious 
power. 

"When  Goethe,"  she  writes,  "received  a  letter 
from  Zelter  with  a  handsome  superscription,  he 
said,  'Lay  that  aside;  it  is  Zelter's  true  hand-writ 
ing.  Every  man  has  a  daemon,  who  is  busy  to  con 
fuse  and  limit  his  life.  No  way  is  the  action  of  this 
power  more  clearly  shown,  than  in  the  hand-writ 
ing.  On  this  occasion,  the  evil  influences  have 
been  evaded;  the  mood,  the  hand,  the  pen  and 
paper  have  conspired  to  let  our  friend  write  truly 
himself.  ...  I  think  often  of  this  little  passage. 
With  me,  for  weeks  and  months,  the  daemon 
works  his  will.  Nothing  succeeds  with  me.  I  fall 
ill,  or  am  otherwise  interrupted.  At  these  times, 
whether  of  frost,  or  sultry  weather,  I  would  gladly 
neither  plant  nor  reap, — wait  for  the  better  times, 
which  sometimes  come,  when  I  forget  that  sick 
ness  is  ever  possible.  ...  As  to  the  Daemonia- 
cal,  I  know  not  that  I  can  say  to  you  anything  more 
precise  than  you  find  from  Goethe.  There  are  no 
precise  terms  for  such  thoughts.  The  word  in 
stinctive  indicates  their  existence.  I  intimated  it  in 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         109 

the  little  piece  on  the  Drachenfels.1  .  .  .  When 
conscious,  self-asserting,  it  becomes  (as  power 
working  for  its  own  sake,  unwilling  to  acknowl 
edge  love  for  its  superior,  must)  the  devil.  That 
is  the  legend  of  Lucifer,  the  star  that  would  not 
own  its  center.  Yet,  while  it  is  unconscious,  it  is 
not  devilish,  only  dasmoniac.  In  nature,  we  trace 
it  in  all  volcanic  workings,  in  a  boding  position  of 
lights,  in  whispers  of  the  wind,  ...  in  deceitful 
invitations  of  the  water,  .  .  and  in  the  shapes  of 
all  those  beings  who  go  about  seeking  what  they 
may  devour.  We  speak  of  a  mystery,  a  dread;  we 
shudder,  but  we  approach  still  nearer,  and  a  part 
of  our  nature  listens,  sometimes  answers  to  this 
influence,  which  if  not  indestructible,  is  at  least 
indissolubly  linked  with  the  existence  of  matter. 

"In  genius,  and  in  character,  it  works,  as  you 
say  instinctively;  it  refuses  to  be  analyzed  by  the 
understanding,  and  is  most  of  all  inaccessible  to 
the  person  who  possesses  it.  We  can  only  say,  I 
have  it,  he  has  it.  ...  It  is  most  obvious  in  the 
eye.  As  we  look  on  such  eyes,  we  think  on  the 
tiger,  the  serpent,  beings  who  lurk,  glide,  fascinate, 
mysteriously  control.  For  it  is  occult  by  its  nature, 
and  if  it  could  meet  you  on  the  highway,  and  be 

1This  is  a  poem  she  wrote   and  sent  to  a  friend. 


1 10    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

familiarly  known  as  an  acquaintance,  could  not 
exist.  The  angels  of  light  do  not  love,  yet  they 
do  not  insist  on  exterminating  it. 

"It  has  given  rise  to  the  fables  of  wizard,  en 
chantress,  and  the  like;  these  beings  are  scarcely 
good,  yet  not  necessarily  bad.  Power  tempts  them. 
They  draw  their  skills  from  the  dead,  because 
their  being  is  coeval  with  that  of  matter,  and  mat 
ter  is  the  mother  of  death."  * 

In  discussing  further  this  same  subject,  Mar 
garet  Fuller  says  of  the  Duke  of  Weimar: 
"Goethe  describes  him  as  Damonisch,  that  is, 
gifted  with  an  instinctive,  spontaneous  force, 
which  at  once,  without  calculation  or  foresight, 
chooses  the  right  means  to  an  end.  As  these  be 
ings  do  not  calculate,  so  is  their  influence  incal 
culable.  Their  repose  has  as  much  influence  over 
other  beings  as  their  action,  even  as  the  thunder 
cloud,  lying  black  and  distant  in  the  summer  sky, 
is  not  less  imposing  than  when  it  bursts  and  gives 
forth  its  quick  lightnings.  .  .  .  Sometimes,  though 
rarely,  we  see  such  a  man  in  an  obscure  position; 
circumstances  have  not  led  him  to  a  large  sphere; 
he  may  not  have  expressed  in  words  a  single 
1  Memoirs,  I.  224  ff. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         in 

thought  worth  recording;  but  by  his  eye  and  voice 
he  rules  all  around  him. 

"He  stands  upon  his  feet  with  a  firmness  and 
calm  security  which  makes  other  men  seem  to  halt 
and  totter  in  their  gait.  In  his  deep  eye  is  seen  an 
infinite  comprehension,  an  infinite  reserve  of 
power.  No  accent  of  his  sonorous  voice  is  lost  on 
any  ear  within  hearing;  and,  when  he  speaks, 
men  hate  or  fear  perhaps  the  disturbing  power 
they  feel,  but  never  dream  of  disobeying." 

Quoting  Goethe's  own  words,  she  gives  Goethe 
himself  as  an  illustration  of  one  who  possessed 
these  daemoniacal  powers :  "  'The  boy  believed 
in  nature,  in  the  animate  and  inanimate,  the  intel 
ligent  and  unconscious,  to  discover  somewhat 
which  manifested  itself  only  through  contradic 
tion,  and  therefore  could  not  be  comprehended  by 
any  conception,  much  less  defined  by  a  word.  It 
was  not  divine,  for  it  seemed  without  reason;  not 
human,  because  without  understanding;  not  devil 
ish,  because  it  worked  to  good;  not  angelic,  be 
cause  it  often  betrayed  a  petulant  love  of  mischief. 
It  was  like  chance,  in  that  it  proved  no  sequence; 
it  suggested  the  thought  of  Providence,  because 
it  indicated  connection.  To  this  all  our  limitations 
seem  penetrable ;  it  seemed  to  play  at  will  with  all 


ii2    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

the  elements  of  our  being;  it  compressed  time  and 
dilated  space.  Only  in  the  impossible  did  it  seem 
to  delight,  and  to  cast  the  possible  aside  with 
disdain. 

"  'This  existence  which  seemed  to  mingle  with 
others,  sometimes  to  separate,  sometimes  to  unite, 
I  called  the  Damonisch,  after  the  example  of  the 
ancients,  and  others  who  have  observed  somewhat 
similar/  "  1 

"  'The  Damonisch  is  that  which  cannot  be  ex 
plained  by  reason  or  understanding;  it  lies  not  in 
my  nature,  but  I  am  subject  to  it. 

"  'Napoleon  was  a  being  of  this  class,  and  in  so 
high  a  degree  that  scarce  any  one  is  to  be  com 
pared  with  him.  Also  our  late  grand  duke  [Karl 
August  of  Weimar,  Goethe's  benefactor]  was  such 
a  nature,  full  of  unlimited  power  of  action  and  un 
rest,  so  that  his  own  dominion  was  too  little  for 
him,  and  the  greatest  would  have  been  too  little. 
Demoniac  beings  of  this  sort  the  Greeks  reckoned 
among  their  demigods'."  2, 3 

Even  in  her  last  years  Margaret  Fuller  still  held 
to  this  Goethean  belief  in  daemonology.  She 

1  Quoted  by  Margaret  Fuller  from  Dlchtung  und  Wahrheit. 

2  Quoted  by  Margaret  Fuller  from  Conversations  with  Ecker. 
mann. 

8  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  32  f. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         113 

writes  from  Italy:  "My  days  at  Milan  were  not 
unmarked.  I  have  known  some  happy  hours,  but 
they  all  lead  to  sorrow,  and  not  only  the  cups  of 
wine,  but  of  milk,  seem  drugged  with  poison,  for 
me.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  my  fault,  this  destiny. 
I  do  not  court  these  things, — they  come.  I  am  a 
poor  magnet,  with  power  to  be  wounded  by  the 
bodies  I  attract."  * 

Margaret  Fuller  was,  from  1840  to  1842,  chief 
editor  of  the  Dial,  which  was  considered  a  Tran 
scendental  organ.  It  has,  therefore,  been  sup 
posed  by  many  that  she  must  also,  of  necessity, 
have  been  a  Transcendentalist.  In  one  of  her  let 
ters  is  clearly  stated  the  fact,  however,  that  she 
never  considered  the  Dial  at  the  beginning  of  its 
career,  nor  in  fact  at  any  time  during  her  editor 
ship,  a  magazine  belonging  to  any  one  sect,  party, 
or  confession,  but  an  organ  to  allow  free  expres 
sion  of  thought  in  literature,  religion,  and  philoso 
phy,  from  any  and  all,  whatsoever  their  confes 
sion  or  creed.  So  "eclectic  and  miscellaneous,"  in 
fact,  was  the  magazine,  according  to  Emerson, 
"that  each  of  its  readers  and  writers  valued  only  a, 
small  portion  of  it."  2  On  March  22,  1840,  Mar 
garet  Fuller  writes : 

1  Memoirs,  I.  226.  2Ibid.,  p.  333. 


1 14    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

"What  others  can  do, — whether  all  that  has 
been  said  is  the  mere  restlessness  of  discontent, 
or  there  are  thoughts  really  struggling  for  utter 
ance, — will  be  tested  now.  A  perfectly  free 
organ  is  to  be  offered  for  the  expression  of  indi 
vidual  thought  and  character.  There  are  no 
party  measures  to  be  carried,  no  particular  stand 
ard  to  be  set  up.  A  fair,  calm  tone,  a  recognition 
of  universal  principles,  will,  I  hope,  pervade  the 
essays  in  every  form.  I  trust  there  will  be  a  spirit 
neither  of  dogmatism  nor  of  compromise,  and  that 
this  journal  will  aim,  not  at  leading  public  opinion, 
but  at  stimulating  each  man  to  judge  for  himself, 
and  to  think  more  deeply  and  more  nobly,  by 
letting  him  see  how  some  minds  are  kept  alive 
by  wise  self-trust.  .  .  .  We  shall  manifest  free 
action,  as  far  as  it  goes,  and  a  high  aim.  It 
were  much  if  a  periodical  could  be  kept  open, 
not  to  accomplish  any  outward  object,  but  merely 
to  afford  an  avenue  for  what  of  liberal  and  calm 
thought  might  be  originated  among  us,  by  the 
wants  of  individual  minds."  * 

In  another  letter  dated  April  19,  1840,  Mar 
garet  Fuller  says,  with  reference  to  what  the 
people  expect  of  the  Dial  and  what  they  will 

1  Memoirs,  II.  25. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          115 

not  find:  "Things  go  on  pretty  well,  but  doubt 
less  people  will  be  disappointed,  for  they  seem  to 
be  looking  for  the  gospel  of  Transcendentalism."  l 
The  same  incorrect  conclusion  with  reference 
to  Margaret  Fuller,  namely,  that  she  shared  in 
the  doctrines  of  the  New  England  Transcenden- 
talists,  has  often  been  drawn  from  the  mere  fact 
that  she  belonged  to  a  club  designated  as  the 
"Transcendental  Club," — and  also,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  "Symposium,"  and  "Hedge  Club."  But, 
that  the  club  held  to  no  one  particular  religious 
belief,  or  philosophy,  and  was,  altogether,  about 
as  cosmopolitan  as  any  club  could  well  be,  is  evi 
dent  from  a  description  of  it  by  W.  H.  Chan- 
ning:  "By  mere  attraction  of  affinity,"  he  writes, 
"grew  together  the  brotherhood  of  the  'Like- 
minded,'  as  they  were  pleasantly  nick-named  by 
outsiders,  and  by  themselves,  on  the  ground  that 
no  two  were  of  the  same  opinion.  The  only  pass 
word  of  membership  to  this  association,  which 
had  no  compact,  records,  or  officers,  was  a  hopeful 
and  liberal  spirit;  and  its  chance  conventions  were 
determined  merely  by  the  desire  of  the  caller  for 
a  'talk,'  or  by  the  arrival  of  some  guest  from  a 
distance  with  a  budget  of  presumptive  novelties. 

1  Memoirs,  II.  25  f. 


1 1 6  MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Its  'symposium1  was  a  picnic,  whereto  each 
brought  his  gains  as  he  felt  prompted,  a  bunch 
of  wild  grapes  from  the  woods,  or  bread-corn 
from  his  threshing-floor.  The  tone  of  the  as 
semblies  was  cordial  welcome  for  every  one's 
peculiarity;  and  scholars,  farmers,  mechanics, 
merchants,  married  women,  and  maidens,  met 
there  on  a  level  of  courteous  respect." 

Margaret  Fuller  attended  these  meetings,  as 
did  many  others  who  went  thither  either  to  learn 
the  new  thoughts  contributed  by  the  other  mem 
bers,  or  who  had  something  new  to  impart, 
whether  it  was  "transcendental"  or  not. 

Of  course,  Margaret  Fuller  was  a  very  welcome 
and  appreciated  member  here,  for  she  doubtless 
brought  many  new  ideas.  Because  of  her  ability 
to  contribute  so  richly  in  thought,  because  of  her 
wonderful  powers  of  conversation,  and  the  fact 
that  she  was  a  born  leader,  W.  H.  Channing 
might  well  and  consistently  call  her  "a  peer  of 
the  realm"  in  this  cosmopolitan  gathering,  and 
say  she  was  a  "member  by  grace  of  nature,"  2 
where  any  new  thought  was  welcome,  and  "the 
only  guest  not  tolerated,  was  intolerance." 

Her  talks  or  "Conversations"  must  have  been 

1  Memoirs,  II.  14  f.  2  Ibid.,  II.  18.  *  Ibid.,  p.  15. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          117 

very  effective,  according  to  her  biographers,  and 
still  more  the  "side-talks,"  which  the  general  con 
versations  led  to.  W.  H.  Channing  says  of  them : 
"Very  observable  was  it,  also,  how,  in  side  talks 
with  her,  they  became  confidential,  seemed  to 
glow  and  brighten  into  their  best  mood,  and 
poured  out  in  full  measure  what  they  but  scantily 
hinted  in  the  circle  at  large."  1 

The  thoughts  she  offered,  far  from  being  merely 
speculative,  as  was  characteristic  of  Transcen 
dentalism,  seem  to  have  been  eminently  practical,  4 
and  always  to  have  had,  when  the  conversations  j^ 
turned  on  the  subject  of  character-building,  the  ,<J 
great  Goethean  aim  of  an  inner  development 
of  the  soul,  of  a  drawing  out  of  what  was  best 
in  the  individual,  at  the  foundation.  We  can 
probably  best  judge  the  lofty,  practical  character 
of  Margaret  Fuller's  talks  at  these  meetings,  by 
those  of  her  famous  Boston  "Conversations,"  a 
little  later,  which  were  of  the  same  nature,  and 
of  which  we  have  the  reports.  The  great  aim  in 
these  latter  "Conversations"  was  to  answer  the 
questions  "What  is  Life?"  and  "What  were  we 
born  to  do?  and  how  shall  we  do  it?"2  In  a 
letter  intended  for  circulation  she  writes,  just 

1  Memoirs,  p.  19.  ~  Ibid.,  L,  325,  345. 


1 1 8  MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

before  the  beginning  of  one  of  her  classes  for 
women  in  1839:  "Women  are  now  taught,  at 
school,  all  that  men  are;  they  run  over,  super 
ficially,  even  more  studies,  without  being  really 
taught  anything.  When  they  come  to  the  busi 
ness  of  life,  they  find  themselves  inferior,  and  all 
their  studies  have  not  given  them  that  practical 
good  sense,  and  mother  wisdom,  and  wit."  x  "My 
ambition  goes  further.  It  is  to  pass  in  review 
the  departments  of  thought  and  knowledge,  and 
endeavor  to  place  them  in  due  relation  to  one 
another  in  our  minds.  To  systematize  thought, 
and  give  a  precision  and  clearness  in  which  our 
sex  are  so  deficient,  chiefly,  I  think,  because  they 
have  so  few  inducements  to  test  and  classify  what 
they  receive.  To  ascertain  what  pursuits  are  best 
suited  to  us,  in  our  time  and  state  of  society,  and 
how  we  may  make  best  use  of  our  means  for 
building  up  the  life  of  thought  upon  the  life  of 
action"  2 

This  all  certainly  sounds  practical,  and  when 

the  active  life  she  lived  in  deed  and  thought  is 

considered,    we    certainly   cannot    accuse   her   of 

\  transcendental  self-absorption,  "a  withdrawal,"  as 

W.  H.  Channing  says  of  the  Transcendentalists, 

1  Memoirs,  I.  p.  329.  2Ibid.,  I.  325. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          119 

"to  private  study  and  contemplation,  that  they 
might  be  'alone  with  the  Alone!'  "  '  Margaret 
Fuller  had  always  before  her  a  definite,  fixed 
purpose,  and  took  steps  to  put  it  into  execution 
as  soon  as  she  saw  her  way  clear.  She  had  little 
of  that  "dwelling  among  the  clouds"  and  imprac- 
ticality,  mentioned  by  Channing,  as  characteristic 
of  the  Transcendentalists.  She  differed  from 
them  in  character  and  temperament.  "Her  ro 
mantic  freshness  of  heart,"  says  Channing,  "her 
craving  for  the  truth;  .  .  .  her  discipline  in  Ger 
man  schools  had  given  definite  form  and  tendency 
to  her  idealism.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  strong 
common-sense  saved  her  from  becoming  vision 
ary." 

Looked  at  from  the  practical  aim  which 
Margaret  Fuller  always  kept  in  view,  some  of 
her  seemingly  far-fetched  statements  in  her  "Con 
versations"  appear  in  an  entirely  different  light; 
and  the  little  book,  Margaret  and  Her  Friends, — 
which  is  probably  a  report  of  the  poorest  series 
of  her  "Conversations" — may  not  be  quite  so 
meaningless.  Even  through  these  last  mentioned, 
very  meager  reports  we  can  see  gleaming  the 
great  purpose  she  had  in  view.  When  we  con- 

1  Memoirs,  II.  13.  2Ibid.,  II.  18. 


120    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

sider  the  high  positions  which  some  of  the  young 
women  belonging  to  Margaret  Fuller's  circle  at 
tained,  as  leaders  in  the  thought  and  philanthropy 
of  New  England  for  over  half  a  century,  we  know 
what  these  "Conversations,"  where  what  was 
noble  and  best  in  them  was  called  out,  meant  to 
them.  A  single  passage  from  one  of  these  same 
young  women,  Mrs.  Ednah  Dow  Cheney,  is  suffi 
cient  testimony  to  show  what  Margaret  Fuller  did 
for  all  of  them  here.  "I  found  myself  in  a  new 
world  of  thought;"  says  Mrs.  Cheney,  "a  flood 
of  light  irradiated  all  that  I  had  seen  in  nature, 
observed  in  life,  or  read  in  books.  Whatever 
she  spoke  of  revealed  a  hidden  meaning,  and 
everything  seemed  to  be  put  into  true  relation. 
Perhaps  I  could  best  express  it  by  saying  that  I 
was  no  longer  the  limitation  of  myself,  but  I  felt 
that  the  whole  wealth  of  the  universe  was  open 
to  me.  It  was  this  consciousness  of  the  illimitable 
ego,  the  divinity  in  the  soul,  which  was  so  real  to 
Margaret  herself.  .  .  .  She  did  not  make  us  her 
disciples,  her  blind  followers.  She  opened  the 
book  of  life  and  helped  us  to  read  it  for  our 
selves."  *  Without  question  Margaret  Fuller  tried 
here,  and  succeeded,  in  putting  into  effect  her 

1  Reminiscences  of  Ednah  Do<w  Cheney,  p.  205. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         121 

educational  and  religious  ideals,  and  to  develop 
the  inner  life  of  each  and  every  one  in  her 
"classes"  after  the  manner  in  which  she  had  her 
self  been  so  powerfully  developed  by  Goethe. 

The  Transcendentalists  on  the  other  hand, 
according  to  Channing,  "felt  that  systematic  re 
sults  were  not  yet  to  be  looked  for,  and  that  in 
sallies  of  conjecture,  glimpses  and  flights  of 
ecstacy,  the  'Newness'  lifted  her  veil  to  her 
votaries."  *  Mrs.  Howe  calls  Transcendentalism 
"beautiful  and  inconvenient,"  and  says,  "Method 
it  could  not  boast.  Free  discussion,  abstinence 
from  participation  in  ordinary  social  life  and  re 
ligious  worship,  a  restless  seeking  for  sympathy, 
and  a  constant  formulation  of  sentiments  which, 
exalted  in  themselves,  seemed  to  lose  something 
of  their  character  by  the  frequency  with  which 
they  were  presented, — these  were  some  of  the 
traits  which  Transcendentalism  showed." 

That  Margaret  Fuller  did  not  consider  herself 
a  Transcendentalist,  but  saw  clearly  the  differences 
between  herself  and  them,  is  further  shown  by  her 
own  description  and  discussion  of  Transcenden 
talism,  its  causes  and  failings.  She  writes,  in 
1840,  concerning  the  superficial  foundation  upon 

1  Memoirs,  II.  14.  z  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  90  f. 


122    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

which  it  was  forced  to  build, — the  materialism, 
uthe  slight  literary  culture,"  and  "this  hasty  way 
of  thinking:" 

"Since  the  Revolution,  there  has  been  little, 
in  the  circumstances  of  this  country,  to  call  out 
the  higher  sentiments.  The  effect  of  continued 
prosperity  is  the  same  on  nations  as  on  individuals, 
— it  leaves  the  nobler  faculties  undeveloped.  The 
need  of  bringing  out  the  physical  resources  of  a 
vast  extent  of  country,  the  commercial  and  politi 
cal  fever  incident  to  our  institutions,  tend  to  fix 
the  eyes  of  men  on  what  is  local  and  temporary, 
on  the  external  advantages  of  their  conditions. 
The  superficial  diffusion  of  knowledge,  unless  at 
tended  by  a  correspondent  deepening  of  its  sources, 
is  likely  to  vulgarize  rather  than  to  raise  the 
thought  of  a  nation,  depriving  them  of  another 
sort  of  education  through  sentiments  of  reverence, 
and  leading  the  multitude  to  believe  themselves 
capable  of  judging  what  they  but  dimly  discern. 
They  see  a  wide  surface,  and  forget  the  difference 
between  seeing  and  knowing.  In  this  hasty  way  of 
thinking  and  living  they  traverse  so  much  ground 
that  they  forget  that  not  the  sleeping  railroad 
passenger,  but  the  botanist,  the  geologist,  the  poet, 
really  see  the  country,  and  that  to  the  former, 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         123 

'a  miss  is  as  good  as  a  mile.1  In  a  word,  the  ten 
dency  of  circumstances  has  been  to  make  our 
people  superficial,  irreverent,  and  more  anxious 
to  get  a  living  than  to  live  mentally  and  morally. 
This  tendency  is  no  way  balanced  by  the  slight 
literary  culture  common  here,  which  is  mostly  Eng 
lish,  and  consists  in  a  careless  reading  of  publica 
tions  of  the  day,  having  the  same  utilitarian 
tendency  with  our  own  proceedings.  The  infre- 
quency  of  acquaintance  with  any  of  the  great 
fathers  of  English  lore  marks  this  state  of  things." 
Concerning  the  Transcendentalists  themselves 
and  their  characteristics,  she  says :  "New  England 
is  now  old  enough, — some  there  have  leisure 
enough, — to  look  at  all  this;  and  the  consequence  is 
a  violent  reaction,  in  a  small  minority  [the  Tran 
scendentalists],  against  a  mode  of  culture  that 
rears  such  fruits.  They  see  that  political  freedom 
does  not  necessarily  produce  liberality  of  mind, 
nor  freedom  in  church  institutions — vital  religion; 
and,  seeing  that  these  changes  cannot  be  wrought 
from  without  inwards,  they  are  trying  to  quicken 
the  soul,  that  they  may  work  from  within  outwards. 
Disgusted  with  the  vulgarity  of  a  commercial 
aristocracy,  they  become  radicals;  disgusted  with 
the  materialistic  working  of  'rational'  religion, 


I24    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

they  become  mystics.  They  quarrel  with  all  that 
is,  because  it  is  not  spiritual  enough.  They  would, 
perhaps,  be  patient  if  they  thought  this  the  mere 
sensuality  of  childhood  in  our  nation,  which  it 
might  outgrow;  but  they  think  that  they  see  the 
evil  widening,  deepening, — not  only  debasing  the 
life,  but  corrupting  the  thought  of  our  people,  and 
they  feel  that  if  they  know  not  well  what  should 
be  done,  yet  that  the  duty  of  every  good  man  is 
to  utter  a  protest  against  what  is  done  amiss. 

uls  this  protest  undiscriminating?  are  these 
opinions  crude?  do  these  proceedings  threaten  to 
sap  the  bulwarks  on  which  men  at  present  depend? 
I  confess  it  all."  x  She  did  not  believe  in  their 
extreme  subjectivity  and  lack  of  historical  sense, 
or  in  carrying  the  idea  of  "transcending  sense  and 
time"  too  far;  for,  as  W.  H.  Channing  writes: 

uBy  their  very  posture  of  mind,  as  seekers  of 
the  new,  the  Transcendentalists  were  critics  and 
'come-outers'  from  the  old.  Neither  the  church,  the 
state,  the  college,  society,  nor  even  reform  asso 
ciations  had  a  hold  upon  their  hearts.  The  past 
might  be  well  enough  for  those  who  without  make- 
believe,  could  put  faith  in  common  dogmas  and 
usages;  but  for  them  .  .  .  the  herald-trump  of 

1  Memoirs,  II.  26  ff. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         125 

freedom  was  heard  upon  the  mountains."  1  Mar 
garet  Fuller  hopes,  however,  they  will  yet  ulearn 
how  to  make  use  of  the  past,  as  well  as  to  aspire 
for  the  future,  and  be  true  in  the  present  mo 
ment."  "Civilization,"  she  said,  "must  be  homo 
geneous, — must  be  a  natural  growth."  3  She 
agreed  with  the  Transcendentalists  that  a  reform 
was  urgent;  but  to  cut  absolutely  loose  from  the 
past,  to  reject  all  that  the  ages  gone  by  had  left 
us  as  a  heritage,  good  and  bad  alike,  seemed  to 
her  too  revolutionary,  too  radical.  There  was 
much  worthy  of  preservation.  Dreaming  in  their 
mysticism,*  the  Transcendentalists,  she  believed, 
often  lost  themselves  in  idle  visions  of  a  perfect 
state  of  society.  "Utopia,"  she  writes,  "it  is  im 
possible  to  build  up.  At  least,  my  hopes  for  our 
race  on  this  one  planet  are  more  limited  than 
those  of  most  of  my  friends."  "I  accept,"  she 
says  with  Goethe,  "the  limitations  of  human  na 
ture,  and  believe  a  wise  acknowledgement  of  them 
one  of  the  best  conditions  of  progress."  4 

1  Memoirs,  II.  14.  2Ibid.,  p.  29. 

3  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  186. 

*  Margaret  Fuller,  like  Goethe,  believed  "There  ought  really 
to  be  no  Christian  mystics  at  all,  since  religion  itself  presents 
mysteries  enough.  Christian  mystics,  too,  always  go  immediately 
into  the  abstruse,  into  the  abysses  of  the  subject."  (Goethe's 
Spriiche  in  Prosa,  297.) 

4  Memoirs,  II.  29. 


126    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Even  concerning  the  subjects  which  she  had 
been  unable  to  investigate,  because  of  her  position 
as  a  woman,  and  the  many  private  duties  which 
occupied  her  time,  she  says;  "I  suppose,  if  I  ever 
become  capable  of  judging,  I  shall  differ  from 
most  of  them  [the  Transcendentalists]  on  im 
portant  points."  *  One  of  the  points  in  which 
she,  the  pupil  of  Goethe,  differed  essentially  from 
the  Transcendentalists  was  as  to  what  should  be 
done  with  the  ''Material"  part  of  man,  that  is, 
his  physical  nature.  They,  in  common  with  the 
other  religious  sects,  and  as  has  been  pointed  out, 
with  Kant's  philosophy,  had  regarded  this  side 
of  man  as  the  seat  of  original  sin,  or  radical  evil, 
and  were  consequently  decrying  continually  its 
irrepressible  assertions,  as  "sluggishness"  and 
"worldliness"  of  spirit.2  Margaret  Fuller  felt 
sharply  that  it  was  here  where  the  difference  be 
tween  the  concealed  Puritanism  of  the  Transcen 
dentalists  and  the  progressive  and  higher  ethical 
principles  of  Goethe-Schiller  becomes  apparent. 
It  is,  in  a  way,  the  difference  between  the  idealist 
and  the  realist  which  Schiller  describes  so  mas 
terfully  in  his  essay  Ueber  Naive  und  Sentimen- 
tale  Dichtung.  "That  is  the  real  life,"  Margaret 

1  Memolrst  II.  29  f.  a  Ibid.,  p.  30. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         127 

Fuller  writes,  "which  is  subordinated  to,  not 
merged  in,  the  ideal;  he  is  only  wise  who  can 
bring  the  lowest  act  of  his  life  into  sympathy  with 
its  highest  thought.  And  this  I  take  to  be  the 
only  aim  of  our  pilgrimage  here.  I  agree  with 
those  who  think  that  no  true  philosophy  will  try 
to  ignore  or  annihilate  the  material  part  of  man, 
but  will  rather  seek  to  put  it  in  its  place,  as  servant 
and  minister  to  the  soul."  1 

While  the  differences  between  Margaret  Ful 
ler's  belief  and  that  of  the  Transcendentalists  were 
evident  to  her,  and  while  she  discerned  clearly 
their  chief  failings,  she  was  not  blind  to  the 
good  traits  which  they  had.  She  could  not  help 
but  consider  their  aim  a  true  one,  and  their 
schemes  noble  in  intention.  She  sympathized  with 
them  in  this  respect :  that  they — impractical  as 
their  schemes  may  have  been — meant  to  ennoble 
human  nature,  and  that  they  had,  in  truth,  "poetic 
manifestations,"  and  "a  standard  transcending 
sense  and  time"  2  among  a  people  whose  mind 
and  energies  she  thought,  were,  at  the  time,  bent 
entirely  too  much  upon  the  present  and  the  ac 
cumulation  of  material  resources.  She  sees  the 
"promise  of  a  better  wisdom"  among  the  Tran- 

1  Memoirs,  II.  30  f.  2  Ibid.,  II.  29. 


128    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

scendentalists  than  among  the  great  materialistic, 
comfort-loving  majority  of  their  fellow-country 
men.  She  has  confidence,  "despite  their  partial 
views,  imperfectly  developed  characters,  and  fre 
quent  want  of  practical  sagacity,"  that,  "if  they 
have  opportunity  to  state  and  discuss  their 
opinions,  they  will  gradually  sift  them,  and  ascer 
tain  their  grounds  and  aims  with  clearness."  "I 
hope  for  them,"  she  concludes,  uas  for  the  (leaven 
that  is  hidden  in  the  bushel  of  meal  till  all  be 
leavened.'  The  leaven  is  not  good  by  itself, 
neither  is  the  meal;  let  them  combine  and  we 
shall  yet  have  bread."  1 

Here,  throughout  this  discussion,  it  is  again 
perfectly  clear  that  Margaret  Fuller  did  not  count 
herself  among  the  Transcendentalists,  and  that 
her  sympathy  for  them  was  merely  a  hope  that 
they  would  in  time  see  more  clearly  and  "do  the 
work  this  country  needs."  She  is  always  careful 
to  speak  of  them  in  the  third  person.  She  always 
makes  a  sharp  distinction  between  "they"  and 
"I,"  and  never  says  "we"  in  referring  to  them. 

The  desire  of  the  Transcendentalist  to  with 
draw  from  the  hum  and  bustle  of  city  life,  that  he 
might  be  more  "alone  with  the  Alone"  and  live 

1  Memoirs,  II.  28  f. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         129 

more  a  life  of  meditation,  probably  had  much  to 
do  with  the  establishment  of  the  community  at 
Brook  Farm,  a  scheme  with  which  Margaret 
Fuller  was  never  in  sympathy,  though  she  visited 
her  friends  there.  She  had  at  most,  only  a  partial 
faith  in  the  doctrines  of  Fourier,  which  the  Brook 
Farmers  had  adopted,  and  which  were  similar 
to  those  of  Rousseau,  much  as  Rousseau  had 
charmed  her  when  she  first  read  him.  In  Woman 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century  Margaret  Fuller  dis 
cusses  at  some  length  Fourier's  doctrines  and  social 
reform  schemes,  states  her  objections  to  them, 
and  compares  them  with  Goethe's  solution  of  the 
same  vexed  problem,  namely  the  betterment  of 
society.  Though  she  calls  Fourier  an  "Apostle  of 
the  new  order.  .  .  that  is  to  rise  from  love," 
she  thinks  he  is  only  partially  right.  He  lays  too 
much  stress  on  the  external  side  of  man's  nature 
and  not  enough  on  the  internal. 

"The  mind  of  Fourier,"  she  writes,  "though 
grand  and  clear,  was  in  some  respects  superficial. 
He  was  a  stranger  to  the  highest  experiences.  His 
eye  was  fixed  on  the  outward  more  than  on  the 
inward  needs  of  Man.  .  .  .  On  the  opposite  side 
of  the  advancing  army  leads  the  great  Apostle 
of  individual  culture,  Goethe.  Swedenborg  makes 


130    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

organization  and  union  the  necessary  results  of 
solitary  thought.  Fourier,  whose  nature  was, 
above  all,  constructive,  looked  to  them  too  ex 
clusively.  Better  institutions  he  thought,  will 
make  better  men.  Goethe  expressed,  in  every  way, 
the  other  side.  If  one  man  could  present  better 
forms,  the  rest  could  not  use  them  till  ripe  for 
them.  Fourier  says,  As  the  institution,  so  the 
men !  All  follies  are  excusable  and  natural  under 
bad  institutions.  Goethe  thinks,  As  the  man,  so 
the  institutions !  There  is  no  excuse  for  ignor 
ance  and  folly.  A  man  can  grow  in  any  place,  if 
he  will."  1 

Margaret  Fuller  does  not,  indeed,  agree  en 
tirely  with  either  one  of  these  reformers  in  the 
sweeping  generality  of  their  statements.  She  be- 
lives  that  "bad  institutions  are  prison-walls;"  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  it  is  folly  to  "expect  to 
change  mankind  at  once,  or  even  'in  three  genera 
tions',"  as  Fourier  and  the  Brook  Farmers  pro 
posed  to  do,  "by  arrangement  of  groups  and 
series,  or  flourish  of  trumpets  for  attractive 
industry.  If  these  attempts  are  made  by  unready 
men,"  she  concludes,  "they  will  fail."  2  Margaret 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.   123   ff. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  124. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          131 

Fuller  favors  rather  a  union  of  the  two  systems. 
With  Goethe  she  believes  that  character  should 
be  built  up  and  strengthened  from  within;  but  also, 
that  the  institutions  of  society,  without,  should 
be  improved  and  made  to  aid  man  in  his  upward 
tendency. 

After  discussing  the  great  characters  in 
Goethe's  masterpieces  in  this  same  work  of  hers, 
Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  Margaret 
Fuller  expresses  her  satisfaction  with  his  doctrine, 
and  shows  wherein  he  is  superior  to  Fourier,  and 
why  she  prefers  Goethe. 

"Goethe's  book  [Wtlhelm  Meister],"  she 
writes,  "bodes  an  era  of  freedom  like  its  own  of 
'extraordinary,  generous-seeking,'  and  new  revela 
tions.  New  individualities  shall  be  developed  in 
the  actual  world,  which  shall  advance  upon  it  as 
gently  as  the  figures  come  out  upon  his  canvas. 

"I  have  indicated  on  this  point  the  coincidence 
between  his  hopes  and  those  of  Fourier,  though 
his  [Goethe's]  are  directed  by  an  infinitely  higher 
and  deeper  knowledge  of  human  nature."  "It 
is  to  Wilhelm  Meister's  Apprenticeship  and  Wan 
dering  Years  that  I  would  especially  refer,  as  these 
volumes  contain  the  sum  of  the  Sage's  observations 
during  a  long  life,  as  to  what  Man  should  do, 


i32    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

under  present  circumstances,  to  obtain  mastery 
over  outward,  through  an  initiation  into  inward 
life,  and  severe  discipline  of  faculty."  In  this  same 
connection  she  says:  "In  all  these  expressions 
of  Woman,  the  aim  of  Goethe  is  satisfactory  to 
me.  He  aims  at  a  pure  self-subsistance,  and  a  free 
development  of  any  powers  with  which  they  may 
be  gifted  by  nature  as  much  for  them  as  for  men. 
They  are  unfts,  addressed  as  souls."  *  Nothing 
could  be  clearer  here  than  that  Margaret  Fuller 
accepted  Goethe's  solution  of  character-building 
in  preference  to  Fourier's  whose  doctrines  the 
Brook  Farm  Transcendentalists  attempted  to  put 
into  practice  and  live  out  in  their  community  at 
West  Roxbury,  Massachusetts. 

Margaret  Fuller  was  unlike  the  Transcendental 
ists,  also,  in  that  she  was  not  at  all  given  to 
"speculation  on  vague  philosophical  qustions,  as 
sucfh  She  wanted  something  practical,  jomething 
that  bore  a  real  relation  to  her  inner  life  and 
jdevelopmpr'*'  "I  have  always  fp.lf/1  she  writes, 
"that  man  must  know  how  to  stand  firm  on  the 
ground,  before  he  can  fly."  She  evidently  shared 
with  Goethe  the  same  contempt  for  metaphysics 
which  found  its  clear  expression  in  the  advice  of 

4  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  126  f. 
"Memoirs,  I.  20. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          133 

Mephistopheles  to  the  student  in  Faust,  for  she 
writes  in  a  letter,  September,  1832 :  uNot  see  the 
use  of  metaphysics?  A  moderate  portion,  taken  at 
stated  intervals,  I  hold  to  be  of  much  use  as  disci 
pline  of  the  faculties.  I  only  object  to  them  as 
having  an  absorbing  and  anti-productive  tendency. 
.  .  .  The  brain,"  she  concludes,  "does  not  easily 
get  too  dry  for  that  [Metaphysics]."  1  In  medi 
tating  a  Life  of  Goethe  she  speaks  again  of  "that 
indisposition,  or  even  dread"  2  of  the  study  of 
Metaphysics.  With  Novalis  she  agrees  that  "Phi 
losophy  is  peculiarly  home-sickness,  an  overmas 
tering  desire  to  be  at  home,"  and  asks:  "But  what 
is  there  all-comprehending,  eternally-conscious 
about  that?"  "I  do  want  a  system,"  she  says, 
"which  shall  suffice  to  my  character,  and  in  whose 
application  I  shall  have  faith.  I  do  not  wish  to 
reflect  always,  if  reflecting  must  be  always  about 
one's  identity,  whether  'ich'  am  the  true  'ich,'  etc. 
I  wish  to  arrive  at  that  point  where  I  can  trust 
myself,  and  leave  off  saying,  'It  seems  to  me,'  and 
boldly  feel,  It  is  so  TO  ME.  My  character  has 
got  its  natural  regulator,  my  heart  beats,  my  lips 
speak  truth,  I  can  walk  alone,  or  offer  my  arm 
to  a  friend,  or  if  I  lean  on  another,  it  is  not  the 

1  Memoirs,  I.  124.  2  Ibid.,  p.  127. 


134    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

debility  of  sickness,  but  only  wayside  weariness. 
This  is  the  philosophy  /  want;  this  much  would 
satisfy  me"  1 

From  these  statements  and  from  what  she  said 
of  the  individual  philosophers  whom  she  studied, 
it  is  very  clear  that,  unlike  the  Transcendentalists, 
she  had  little  liking  for  speculative  philosophy;  so 
little  in  fact,  that  like  Goethe,  she  did  not  find  this 
study  a  congenial  field  at  all. 

Dr.  Goddard,  though  he  admits  and  shows  that 
Margaret  Fuller  was  greatly  influenced  by  Goethe, 
seems  to  have  tried  to  make  a  great  deal  out  of 
the  single  passage  from  one  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
letters,  concerning  the  influence  of  Emerson  on 
her;  thereby  evidently  trying  to  make  her  out  a 
Transcendentalist,  as  Emerson  was.  In  the  pas 
sage  quoted  Margaret  Fuller  writes:  "You  ques 
tion  me  as  to  the  nature  of  the  benefits  conferred 
upon  me  by  Mr.  E.'s  preaching.  I  answer,  that 
his  influence  has  been  more  beneficial  to  me  than 
that  of  any  American,  and  that  from  him  I  first 
learned  what  is  meant  by  an  inward  life." 

But  the  very  fact  that  she  confines  her  state 
ment  to  American,  and  does  not  make  it  perfectly 
general,  is  unmistakable  evidence  that  she  had  in 

1  Memoirs,  I.  123.  2Ibid.,  I.  194  f. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          135 

mind  some  one  else  not  American,  who  exercised 
a  greater  and  more  beneficial  influence  on  her. 
No  doubt  Emerson  had  a  considerable  influence 
on  her, — greater  than  that  of  any  other  Ameri 
can.  He  doubtless  appealed  to  her  profounder 
thoughts,  and  may  also  have  awakened  reminis 
cences  of  her  subconscious  inborn  Puritan  ideas. 
But  as  proof  that  Goethe's  influence  was  greater, 
and  that  he  was  the  chief  source  for  her  inner  life 
and  development,  we  have  both,  her  own  words, 
and  those  of  Emerson  himself,  words  which  are 
conclusive  and  leave  no  doubt  whatever.1 

It  was  well  known  that  Margaret  Fuller  and 
Emerson  were  different  in  character  and  could  not 
agree  in  their  doctrines,  religious  as  well  as  philo 
sophical.  Emerson  was  preeminently  a  thinker. 
He  placed  his  greatest  emphasis  upon  the  intellect, 
often  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  faculties  of  the 
inner  life.  His  was  chiefly  a  life  of  thought,  and 
not  of  feeling,  and  doubtless,  therefore,  he  often 
seemed  to  his  contemporaries  as  austere  as  some 
of  his  Puritan  ancestors.  All  this  was  true  despite 
his  intellectuality  and  dissent  from  all  traditional, 
formal  church  creeds.  He  seldom  came  into  a 
genuine  heart-to-heart  touch  with  his  fellow  beings 

aCf.  Chapter  II  above,  pp.  52  f.,  63  ff. 


136    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

or  experienced  any  real  glow  of  the  emotional 
side  of  his  nature.  This  fact  explains  the  severe 
criticism  which  he  now  and  then  hurled  against 
Goethe.  Goethe  was  too  human  for  him,  and  laid 
too  much  stress  upon  the  emotional  and  material 
side  of  man's  nature  to  please  him.  Living  thus 
largely  the  life  of  an  ascetic,  a  life  based  primarily 
upon  the  intellect,  and  still  holding  somewhat 
closely  in  practice  to  the  traditional  Puritan  church 
doctrines,  Emerson  naturally  distrusted,  and  often 
disdained,  anything  that  had  to  do  with  the  emo 
tions  of  the  heart  and  the  natural  inclinations  of 
human  nature.  Its  presence  repelled  him  so  that 
he  did  not  look  for  any  reason  why  the  author  may 
have  put  it  there.  He  could,  therefore,  not  un 
derstand  that  Goethe,  in  taking  note  of  this  part  of 
human  nature,  meant  to  give  the  emotions  and 
passions  a  healthy  development,  meant  to  refine 
them  and  bring  them,  as  Margaret  Fuller  has  so 
beautifully  expressed  it,  "into  sympathy  with  his 
highest  thought/'  instead  of  trying  to  "crucify" 
them,  as  the  traditional  church  had  long  at 
tempted  to  do.  Emerson  did  not  see  this  until 
later  in  life.  He  saw  only  that  Goethe  treated  of 
something  which  he  considered  immodest  and 
immoral,  and  therefore  writes  to  Carlyle :  "The 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         137 

Puritan  in  me  accepts  no  apology  for  bad  morals 
in  such  as  he."  * 

Margaret  Fuller  calls  Emerson's  philosophy 
the  "white  light,"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  rosy 
light  and  glow  of  feeling  expressed  in  the  morning 
and  evening  skies.  Margaret  Fuller  lived  an  in 
tense  life,  full  of  glow  and  feeling,  as  well  as' 
thought, — "Viel  denken,  mehr  empfinden,"  *  as 
Goethe  puts  it.**  She  believed  that  to  think  was 
only  a  part  of  life.  To  feel  and  to  act  were  to  her 
just  as  important.  She  had  little  sympathy  with 
confining  her  joys  to  "mental  ecstacies"  such  as 
Emerson's  chiefly  were.  "Is  it  not  nobler  and 
truer,"  she  wrote  to  W.  H.  Channing  in  1842,  "to 
live  than  to  think?  2  .  .  .  Really  to  feel  the  glow 
of  action,  without  its  weariness,  what  heaven  it 
must  be!"3  "She  and  Mr.  Emerson  met,"  says 
Caroline  H.  Dall,  "like  Pyramus  and  Thisbe,  a 
blank  wall  between.  With  Mr.  Alcott  she  had  no 

1  Cf.  pp.  150  ff. ;  also  Carlyle-Emerson  Correspondence,  p.  29. 
*  "Think  much,  feel  more." 

**  "The  thinking  person  errs  especially,"  says  Gcethe,  "when 
he  inquires  after  cause  and  effect;  the  two  together  comprise  the 
inseparable  phenomenon.  H'e  who  can  comprehend  that  is  upon 
the  right  road  to  action,  to  deeds.  The  genetic  process  already 
leads  us  upon  better  ways,  even  though  we  fall  short  in  our  at 
tempt.  Spruche  in  Pros  a,  p.  641. 

2  "Gedenke  zu  leben," — Think  to  live,  Goethe  says  in  one  of 
his  maxims. 

3  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  pp.  308-309. 


138    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

patience."  *  Later  on  in  the  same  work  Mrs.  Ball 
mentions  this  same  fact  again:  "E.  P.  P.  [Eliza 
beth  Palmer  Peabody,  one  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
most  intimate  friends]  got  into  a  little  maze  trying 
to  introduce  Margaret  and  R.  W.  E.  to  each  other, 
— a  consummation  which,  however  devoutly  to  be 
wished,  will  never  happen!"  2  "While  bound  to 
each  other  by  mutual  esteem  and  admiration," 
says  Mrs.  Howe,  "Margaret  and  Mr.  Emerson 
were  opposites  in  natural  tendency  if  not  in  char 
acter.  While  Mr.  Emerson  never  appeared  to  be 
modified  by  any  change  of  circumstance,  never 
melted  nor  took  fire,  but  was  always  and  every 
where  himself,  the  soul  of  Margaret  was  subject 
to  a  glowing  passion  which  raised  the  temperature 
of  the  social  atmosphere  around  her.  ...  A 
priestess  of  life-glories,  she  magnified  her  office 
....  Mr.  Emerson  had  also  a  priesthood,  but 
of  a  different  order.  The  calm,  severe  judgment, 
the  unpardoning  taste,  the  deliberations  which  not 
only  preceded  but  also  followed  his  utterances, 
carried  him  to  a  remoteness  from  the  common  life 
of  common  people,  and  allowed  no  intermingling 
of  this  life  with  his  own."  3 

1  Margaret  and  Her  Friends,  p.  13. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  118  f. 

8  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  84  f. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         139 

Nothing  characterizes  better  the  difference  be 
tween  the  Puritan  spiritualist  and  the  pupil  of 
Goethe's  broad  humanity  than  the  following  pas 
sage  by  the  reporter  of  the  "Conversations:" 

"Mr.  E.  only  served  to  display  her  powers. 
With  his  sturdy  reiteration  of  his  uncompromising 
idealism,  his  absolute  denial  of  the  fact  of  human 
nature,  he  gave  her  opportunity  and  excitement 
to  unfold  and  illustrate  her  realism  and  acceptance 
of  conditions.  .  .  .  She  proceeds  in  her  search 
after  the  unity  of  things,  the  divine  harmony,* 
not  by  exclusion,  as  Mr.  E.  does,  but  by  compre 
hension, — and  so,  no  poorest,  saddest  spirit,  but 
she  will  lead  to  hope  and  faith."  * 

This  last  passage  is  important,  for  Margaret 
Fuller's  realism  is  exactly  the  kind  in  which  Goethe 
believed,  a  realism  which,  when  carefully  studied 
and  understood,  gives  an  insight  into  life,  and 
serves  as  a  foundation  for  character  building. 
Margaret  Fuller's  cry  was  "Truth  at  all  hazards  1" 

*  Compare  Goethe's   Tasso: 

"Die  letzten  Enden  aller  Dinge  will 

Sein  Geist  zusammenfassen" ;  and  Faust  (I.  11.  382-4) 

"Dass  ich  erkenne,  was  die  Welt 

Im  Innersten  zusammenhalt." 

"The  final  limits  of  all  things 

His  soul  seeks  to  comprehend," 

"That  I  might  understand  what  holds  the  world 

Together  within  its  innermost   (parts)." 
1  Memoirs,  I.  349  f. 


140    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

But,  as  it  was  with  Goethe,  it  was  "the  ideal  truth, 
which  Margaret  followed  so  zealously,"  x  a  truth 
when  expressed,  that  gave  her  hearers  faith  in 
humanity  and  in  themselves,  and  called  out  the 
best  that  was  in  them. 

Emerson  himself  gave  a  faithful  description  of 
the  difference  between  his  character  and  belief  and 
that  of  Margaret  Fuller.  "Our  moods  were  very 
different,"  he  says,  "and  I  remember,  that,  at  the 
very  time  when  I,  slow  and  cold,  had  come  fully 
to  admire  her  genius,  and  was  congratulating  my 
self  on  the  solid  good  understanding  that  subsisted 
between  us,  I  was  surprised  with  hearing  it  taxed 
by  her  with  superficiality  and  halfness.  She  stig 
matized  our  friendship  as  commercial.  It  seemed, 
her  magnanimity  was  not  met,  but  I  prized  her 
only  for  the  thoughts  and  pictures  she  brought  me ; 
— so  many  thoughts,  so  many  facts,  yesterday, — so 
many  to-day; — when  there  was  an  end  of  things 
to  tell,  the  game  was  up ;  that,  I  did  not  know,  as 
a  friend  should  know,  to  prize  a  silence  as  much 
as  a  discourse, — and  hence  a  forlorn  feeling  was 
inevitable ;  a  poor  counting  of  thoughts,  and  a  tak 
ing  the  census  of  virtues,  was  the  unjust  reception 
so  much  love  found.  On  one  occasion,  her  grief 

1  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  136. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          141 

broke  into  words  like  these :  'The  religious  nature 
remained  unknown  to  you,  because  it  could  not 
proclaim  itself,  but  claimed  to  be  divined.  The 
deepest  soul  that  approached  you  was,  in  your 
eyes,  nothing  but  a  magic  lantern,  always  bringing 
out  pretty  shows  of  life'."  * 

Lacking,  of  course,  this  truly  human  warmth 
and  glow  of  the  soul,  the  depth  of  her  Gemiith 
which  she  had  found  through  Goethe  and  de 
manded  from  all  her  friends  towards  herself, 
Emerson  could  not  understand  her  tone,  and 
asked  her  to  explain.  "Let  us  hold  hard  to  the 
common  sense"  he  said  to  her  by  letter,  "and  let 
us  speak  in  the  positive  degree."  "Does  water 
meet  water?"  she  asks,  half  satirically,  half  in  fun, 
in  her  answer,  "no  need  of  wine,  sugar,  spice,  or 
even  a  soupqon  of  lemon  to  remind  of  a  tropical 
climate?  I  fear  me  not.  Yet,  dear  positives,  be 
lieve  me  superlatively  yours,  MARGARET."  2 

Again  she  writes  to  Emerson  of  what  is  going 
on  in  her  inner  life, — of  the  change  and  deepen 
ing  of  her  nature  which  was  taking  place  about 
this  time  (1840).  But  at  the  end  of  the  letter 
she  asks :  "Why  do  I  write  thus  to  one  who  must 
ever  regard  the  deepest  tones  of  my  nature  as 

1  Memoirs,  I.  288.  2Ibid.,  I.  289. 


i42    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

those  of  childish  fancy  or  worldly  discontent?"  1 
At  another  time  she  writes  two  descriptions  of  the 
Drachenfels,  one  prose  and  one  poetic,  both  full 
of  feeling,  and  says:  "I  had  twenty  minds  to  send 
it  [the  poetic  one]  you  as  a  literary  curiosity; 
then  I  thought,  this  might  destroy  relations,  and 
I  might  not  be  able  to  be  calm  and  chip  marble 
with  you  any  more,  if  I  talked  to  you  in  magnet 
ism  and  music."  2 

Emerson,  slow,  cool,  and  collected  as  ever, 
reasons  over  all  these  matters  and  finally  reaches 
the  following  conclusions  as  to  her  character: 
"Her  nature  was  so  large  and  receptive,  so  sym 
pathetic,  ...  so  womanly  in  her  understanding. 
.  .  .  He-r  heart  was  underneath  her  intellectual- 
ness,  her  mind  was  reverent,  her  spirit  devout."  3 
Nevertheless  "She  was  vexed  at  a  want  of  sym 
pathy  on  my  part,"  4  and,  "in  short,  Margaret 
often  loses  herself  in  sentimentalism.  .  .  .  Her 
integrity  was  perfect,  and  she  was  led  and  fol 
lowed  by  love,  and  was  really  bent  on  truth,  but 
too  indulgent  to  the  meteors  of  her  fancy."  5 

The  truth  is  that  Emerson,  the  abstract,  "cool" 
thinker,  never  really  penetrated  into  the  deepest 


1  Memoirs,  I.  291.  2Ibid.,  p.  230.  3Ibid.,  p.  316. 

4  Ibid.,  p.   308. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          143 

sources  of  at  least  one  great  aspect  of  her  charac 
ter  and  wonderful  personality.  By  his  very 
make-up  he  could  not  understand  this  side  of  her 
nature,  namely,  the  part  that  feeling  played  in 
her  life,  nearly  so  well  as  those  who  owed  their 
own  inner  development  to  her. 

From  these  passages  it  is  perfectly  clear  that 
Emerson  was  never  her  "spiritual  father,"  and 
that  he  never  exercised  on  her  inner  life  anything 
like  an  overpowering  influence,  but  that  she  had 
a  personality  distinctly  different  from  his,  and 
that  the  doctrine  in  which  she  believed,  and  which 
she  acted  out  in  life,  was  altogether  unlike  his. 
The  fundamental  thought  in  her  doctrine  was, 
as  in  that  of  Goethe,  the  harmonious  development 
of  the  whole  being,  the  heart  as  well  as  the  mind. 
In  the  spiritualistic  doctrines  of  Emerson  and  his 
fellow  Transcendentalists,  as  in  Puritanism  and 
Unitarianism,  the  emotional  and  truly  human 
side  of  character  was  badly  neglected,  and  re 
mained,  for  that  reason,  largely  undeveloped. 

One  is  struck,  in  taking  a  broad  and  compre 
hensive  view  of  Margaret  Fuller's  philosophical 
and  religious  doctrines,  by  the  truth  of  what  James 
Freeman  Clarke  said  of  her:  "She  knew  her 
thoughts  as  we  know  each  other's  faces;  and 


144    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

opinions,  with  most  of  us  so  vague,  shadowy,  and 
shifting,  were  in  her  mind  substantial  and  distinct 
realities.  .  .  .  No  sophist  could  pass  on  her  a 
counterfeit  piece  of  intellectual  money.  .  .  .  This 
gave  a  comprehensive  quality  to  her  mind  most 
imposing  and  convincing,  as  it  enabled  her  to  show 
the  one  Truth,  or  the  one  Law,  manifesting  itself 
in  such  various  phenomena.  Add  to  this  her  pro 
found  faith  in  truth,  which  made  her  a  Realist 
of  that  order  that  thoughts  to  her  were  things/'  * 
It  is  this  realism,  developed  in  Margaret  Fuller 
under  Goethe's  influence,  which  Mrs.  Howe  seems 
to  have  in  mind  when  she  writes  of  her:  "Her 
sense  was  solid,  and  her  meaning  clear  and 
worthy."  2  "Whilst  she  embellished  the  mo 
ment,"  says  Emerson,  "her  conversation  had  the 
merit  of  being  solid  and  true."  3  Certainly  this 
seems  to  be  true:  that  the  terms  and  definitions 
applied  to  Transcendental,  such  as  "lost  in  the 
clouds,"  "transcending  common-sense,"  "out  of 
touch  with  real  practical  life,"  "dreamy"  do  not 
well  fit  her. 

From  all  these  passages  combined,  it  is  per 
fectly  evident  that  Margaret  Fuller  was  not  a 

1  Memoirs,  I.  113. 

2  Howe,  Margaret  Fuller,  p.  85. 
8  Memoirs,  I.   312. 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY         145 

Transcendentalist  in  the  accepted  sense  of  the 
word,  that  she  saw  the  difference  between  their 
convictions  and  hers  clearly,  and  rejected  their 
doctrines.  Even  the  idea  of  an  objective  religion, 
a  church  that  had  its  existence  anywhere  else  than 
in  the  human  heart,  was  to  her,  the,  outspoken 
individualist,  inconceivable;  though  from  her 
Credo  it  is  evident  that  she  felt  no  hostility  toward 
religious  systems  or  creeds.1  Like  Goethe  and 
Schiller,  she  believed  that  out  of  our  own  inner 
being,  out  of  the  inner  heart  and  self,  are  deter 
mined  the  highest  laws  for  individual  growth  and 
action,  and  not  from  any  principle  or  law  that  may 
be  imposed  upon  us  by  anything  that  has  its  exist 
ence  outside  of  our  being,  whether  religion  or 
philosophy.  "Only  give  the  soul  freedom  and 
room  enough  to  grow,"  she  says,  "and  it  will 
grow  from  its  own  center."  2  It  was  her  convic 
tion  that  we  must  ultimately  turn  to  the  highest 
instincts  of  our  inner  souls  for  the  divine  source 
of  our  spiritual  life,*  and  that  the  possibility  of 

1  See  Appendix,  p.  256. 

2  Reminiscences  of  Ednah  Dow  Cheney,  p.  207. 
*In  his  poem,  Schone  In  dividual  it  at,  Schiller  says: 

"Einig  sollst  du  zwar  sein,  doch  eines  nicht  mit  dem  Ganzen. 
Dutch  die  Vernunft  bist  du  eins,  einig  mit  ihm  durch  das  Herz. 
Stimme  des  Ganzen  ist  deine  Vernunft,  dein  Herz  bist  du  selber: 
Wohl  dir,  wenn  die  Vernunft  immer  im  Herzen  dir  wohnt." 
"A  unit  indeed  you  should  be,  but  not  one  with  the  All. 


i46    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

a  perfectly  developed  and  rounded  out  life  lay 
within  our  own  human  nature,  which  she  con 
sidered  divine. 

To  claim  still  that  Margaret  Fuller  was  a  Tran- 
scendentalist,  after  reading  from  her  own  writings 
and  her  chief  biographers,  all  the  evidence  of  her 
close  relation  to  Goethe,  her  "Master,"  her 
"parent,"  as  she  calls  him,  would  be  almost  to 
claim  that  Goethe,  too,  was  a  New  England 
Transcendentalist. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  and  passing  an  esti 
mate  on  Margaret  Fuller's  philosophy  of  life  and 
her  religious  convictions,  nothing  better,  nor  more 
authentic  can  be  said  than  that  which  is  recorded 
by  those  whom  she  helped  to  a  larger  and  fuller 
life.  "Her  nature,"  said  Mrs.  Ednah  Dow 
Cheney,  more  than  forty  years  after  Margaret 
Fuller's  death,  "was  intuitive  and  enthusiastic,  but 
balanced  by  her  clear  perception  of  the  value  of 
limitations,  and  guided  by  her  absolute  fidelity 
to  truth.  .  .  .  Her  method  of  thought  was  to 
seize  the  heart  of  the  subject  and  develop  from 
within.  Nature  readily  yielded  to  her  its  spiritual 

By  your   reason  you   are   a   unit,    [and]    in   unity  with   the   All 

through  the  heart. 

Voice  of  the  All  is  your  reason,  your  heart  you  are  yourself. 
Happy  are  you,  if  reason  always  dwells  in  your  heart" 


RELIGION  AND  PHILOSOPHY          147 

meaning.  .  .  .  Her  religion  was  as  broad  and 
all-embracing  as  her  thought.  I  do  not  know 
the  record  of  any  spiritual  life  more  absolutely 
free  from  theological  narrowness,  and  yet  more 
truly  religious.  The  depth  of  her  life,  her  joy 
and  faith  in  living,  was  the  secret  of  her  marvelous 
power  over  others."  *  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
deeply  religious,  and  the  sincerest  of  Christians, 
said  of  her  doctrine.  "It  was  religious,  because 
it  recognized  something  divine,  infinite,  imper 
ishable  in  the  human  soul, — something  divine  in 
outward  nature  and  providence,  by  which  the  soul 
is  led  along  its  appointed  way."  2  And  Emerson 
records  the  words  of  one  of  the  reporters  of  her 
"Conversations"  in  Boston:  "What  is  so  noble 
is,  that  her  realism  is  transparent  with  idea,— 
her  human  nature  is  the  germ  of  a  divine  life."  3 

1  Reminiscences  of  Ednah  Dow  Cheney,  p.  209. 

2  Memoirs,  I.  133. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  349  f. 


Chapter  IV 
DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE 

Margaret  Fuller  may  justly  lay  claim  to  the 
title  of  being  the  strongest  and  most  effective  de 
fender  Goethe  had  in  America.  Of  course,  to  ap 
preciate  her  work  fully  we  must  judge  what 
she  says  of  Goethe  in  the  light  of  her  own  time 
and  surroundings;  only  then  can  we  comprehend 
how  much  she  did  for  his  proper  understanding 
and  appreciation  in  America.  Goethe's  writings, 
as  works  of  art,  were  little  appreciated  in  this 
country  at  the  time,  except  by  a  very  narrow  circle 
of  the  select  few.  Because  of  an  almost  general 
misunderstanding  of  Goethe's  principles,  and 
sometimes  a  lack  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the 
critics  of  what  Goethe  really  taught  and  pro 
claimed,  much  severe  and  unjust  criticism  was 
heaped  upon  his  works.  Not  only  did  Margaret 
Fuller  have  to  counteract  the  influence  of  such 
criticisms,  but  also  to  combat  a  narrow  and  very 
bitter  religious  prejudice  against  him.  Even  more, 
she  had  to  defend  him  against  influences  that  came 

148 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  149 

over  from  Germany  itself,  through  such  men  as 
Wolfgang  Menzel.  What  made  it  all  the  harder 
for  Margaret  Fuller,  and  therefore  entitles  her  to 
all  the  more  credit,  was  that  a  residue  of  the  same 
Calvinistic  ideals  and  prejudices  which  swayed 
nearly  all  New  England  at  the  time  was  born  and 
bred  in  her,  and  continually  struggled  to  express 
itself. 

What  great  odds  Margaret  Fuller  was  forced 
to  encounter  in  upholding  Goethe  and  his  princi 
ples,  and  how  severe  the  prejudices  and  attacks 
against  him  must  have  been,  may  be  seen  when  it 
is  remembered  that  even  such  men  of  power  and 
influence  as  Emerson  and  Longfellow  attacked  the 
great  German  poet  with  whole  broadsides  of  ad 
verse  criticism,  during  the  early  part  of  their 
careers. 

Emerson  writes  to  Carlyle,  November,  1834: 
"Far,  far  better  seems  to  me  the  unpopularity  of 
this  Philosophical  Poem  (shall  I  call  it?)  [Sartor 
Resartus]  than  the  adulation  that  followed  your 
eminent  friend,  Goethe.  With  him  I  am  becom 
ing  better  acquainted,  but  mine  must  be  a  qualified 
admiration.  It  is  a  singular  piece  of  good  nature 
in  you  to  apotheosize  him.  I  cannot  but  regard  it 
as  his  misfortune,  with  conspicuous  bad  influence 


150    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

on  his  genius, — that  velvet  life  he  led.  What 
incongruity  for  genius,  whose  fit  ornaments  and 
reliefs  are  poverty  and  hatred,  to  repose  fifty 
years  on  chairs  of  state!  And  what  a  pity  that 
his  Duke  did  not  ait  off  his  head  to  save  him  from 
the  mean  end  (forgive)  of  retiring  from  the  muni 
cipal  incense  (to  arrange  tastefully  his  gifts  and 
medals/  Then  the  Puritan  in  me  accepts  no 
apology  for  bad  morals  in  such  as  he.  ...  A 
certain  wonderful  friend  of  mine  said  that  'a  false 
priest  is  the  falsest  of  false  things.'  But  what 
makes  a  priest?  A  cassock?  .  .  . 

"Then  to  write  luxuriously  is  not  the  same  as  to 
live  so,  but  a  new  and  worse  offense.  It  implies 
an  intellectual  defect  also,  the  not  perceiving  that 
the  present  corrupt  condition  of  human  nature 
(which  condition  this  harlot  muse  helps  to  per 
petuate)  is  a  temporary  or  artificial  state." 

Carlyle  answers,  February  3,  1835.  "Your 
objections  to  Goethe  are  very  natural,  and  even 
bring  you  nearer  me:  nevertheless,  I  am  by  no 
means  sure  that  it  were  not  your  wisdom,  at  this 
moment,  to  set  about  learning  the  German  Lan 
guage,  with  a  view  towards  studying  him  mainly. 
.  .  .  His  is  the  only  healthy  mind  .  .  .  that  I 
have  discovered  in  Europe  for  long  generations; 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  151 

it  was  he  that  first  convincingly  proclaimed  to  me 
(convincingly,  for  I  saw  it  done)  :  Behold,  even 
in  this  scandalous  Sceptico-Epicurean  generation, 
when  all  is  gone  but  hunger  and  cant,  it  is  still 
possible  that  Man  be  a  Man."  "I  suspect,"  Car- 
lyle  concludes,  "you  yet  know  only  Goethe,  the 
Heathen  (Ethnic)  ;  but  you  will  know  Goethe, 
the  Christian,  by  and  by,  and  like  that  one  far 
better."  1 

At  this  earnest  solicitation  of  Carlyle  Emerson 
studied  Goethe  and  gained  a  much  better  opinion 
of  him;  yet  he  writes  in  his  journal  of  1836,  that 
he  has  been  reading  "our  wise,  but  sensual,  loved 
and  hated  Goethe."  2 

In  his  article  on  Modern  Literature  in  the 
Dial,  Emerson  asks :  "What  shall  we  think  of  that 
absence  of  the  moral  sentiment  [in  Goethe],  that 
singular  equivalence  to  him  of  good  and  evil  in 
action,  which  discredit  his  compositions  to  the 
pure?"  Of  Wilhelm  Melster  he  says:  "We  are 
never  lifted  above  ourselves,  we  are  not  trans 
ported  out  of  the  dominion  of  the  senses,  or 
cheered  with  an  infinite  tenderness,  or  armed  with 
a  grand  trust."  Emerson  did  not  like  Goethe's 

1  Carlyle-Emerson  Correspondence,  Vol.  I.  29  ff.,  39  f. 
'Emerson's  Works,  Boston  and  New  York,  1903.     Vol.  IV.  pp. 
368  ff.     Notes  by  Edward  W.  Emerson. 


152     MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

hero,  Wilhelm  Meister;  because  he  "has  so  many 
weaknesses  and  impurities  and  keeps  such  bad 
company."  1  "Goethe  then  must  be  set  down  as 
.  .  .  the  poet  of  limitations,  ...  of  this  world, 
and  not  of  religion  and  hope,  ...  in  short,  of 
prose,  not  of  poetry."  2 

In  his  volume  on  Representative  Men,  published 
1850,  Emerson  praises  Goethe  for  his  profound 
knowledge  of  human  nature  and  for  collecting 
and  embracing  within  himself  and  his  works  the 
spirit  of  the  age  in  all  its  tendencies  and  com 
plexity.  "He  was  the  soul  of  his  century,"  Emer 
son  writes.  "He  said  the  best  things  about  nature 
that  ever  were  said."  Yet  in  the  end  he  finds  the 
same  faults  with  the  poet  as  before,  claiming 
that:  "He  is  incapable  of  a  self-surrender  to  the 
moral  sentiment.  .  .  .  Goethe  can  never  be  dear 
to  men.  His  is  not  even  the  devotion  to  pure 
truth;  but  to  truth  for  the  sake  of  culture."  3 
Much  as  Emerson  learned  to  admire  the  great 
genius  of  the  German  poet,  still,  writes  Edward 
W.  Emerson,  the  editor  of  Emerson's  works, 


1  Emerson's  Works,  Boston  and  New  York,  1903.  Vol  IV.  pp. 
265  f.  Notes  by  Edward  W.  Emerson. 

*Ibid.,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  328  ff. 

8  Emerson's  Works,  Vol  IV.  pp.  260  f.,  270.  Notes  by  Edward 
W.  Emerson. 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  153 

"Always  in  his  praise  of  Goethe  there  was  a 
reserve,  a  protest  spoken  or  unspoken." 

Longfellow,  too,  in  his  "Hyperion,"  gives  us 
his  view  of  Goethe,  which  is  really  the  gist  of  his 
lectures  on  him  in  Harvard  College  during  the 
summer  of  1838. 

Though,  like  Emerson,  he  admired  Goethe  for 
a  great  many  admirable  qualities,  he  says:  "His 
philosophy  is  the  old  Ethnic  philosophy.  .  .  . 
What  I  most  object  to  in  the  old  gentleman  is  his 
sensuality."  He  mentions  then,  as  immoral,  the 
Roman  Elegies,  and  "that  monstrous  book,  the 
Elective  Affinities"  and  further  says,  "The  artist 
shows  his  character  in  the  choice  of  his  subject. 
Goethe  never  sculptured  an  Apollo  nor  painted  a 
Madonna.  He  gives  us  only  sinful  Magdalens 
and  rampant  Fauns." 

Even  greater  was  the  enmity  of  the  public 
against  Goethe,  so  great  in  fact  that  even  Emerson 

takes  the  part  of  Goethe  against  them.  " 

pleased  the  people  of  Boston,"  writes  Emerson 
(1844),  "by  railing  at  Goethe  in  his  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  oration  because  Goethe  was  not  a  New 
England  Calvinist."  3 

\Emerson's  Works,  Vol  IV.  p.  371. 
*  Hyperion,  pp.  142  f.,  New  York. 
3  Emerson's  Works,  Vol.  IV.  p.  371.  Notes. 


154    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

These  are  a  few  expressions  of  the  sentiment  in 
the  midst  of  which  Margaret  Fuller  lived,  and 
the  conditions  under  which  she  labored  in  her 
efforts  to  encourage  a  more  general  study  of 
Goethe  and  his  doctrines  in  New  England. 

Margaret  Fuller  has  left  us  two  records  of  the 
arguments  which  she  used  in  her  masterful  defense 
of  Goethe  against  those  who  were  assailing  him. 
In  the  preface  to  her  translation  of  Eckermann's 
Conversation  with  Goethe  she  answers  all  the 
charges  brought  against  the  poet  by  her  country 
men  and  the  English  critics;  and  in  her  first  article 
in  the  Dial  she  defends  him  against  Wolfgang 
Menzel,  whose  criticism  of  Goethe  Professor 
Felton  of  Harvard  College  had  translated.* 

In  the  preface  to  her  translation  of  Ecker 
mann's  Conversations  with  Goethe,  she  says:  "It 
may  not  be  amiss  to  give  some  intimation  (more 
my  present  limits  do  not  permit)  of  the  grounds 
on  which  Goethe  is,  to  myself,  an  object  of 
peculiar  interest  and  constant  study. 

"I  hear  him  much  assailed  by  those  among  us 

*  Since  Margaret  Fuller's  Works  are  very  often  inaccessible 
to  the  reader,  the  quotations  from  them  in  the  present  and  the 
following  chapter  are  frequently  given  at  some  length.  More 
over,  it  was  thought  best,  in  order  to  gain  a  full  appreciation  of 
her  criticisms,  to  collect  and  present  the  main  thoughts,  with  but 
few  comments,  just  as  they  stand  in  her  various  works. 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  155 

who  know  him,  some  few  in  his  own  language, 
but  most  from  translations  of  'Wilhelm  Meister* 
and  'Faust.'  These,  his  two  great  works,  in  which 
he  proposed  to  himself  the  enigma  of  life,  and 
solved  it  after  his  own  fashion,  were,  naturally 
enough,  selected,  in  preference  to  others,  for  trans 
lating.  This  was,  for  all  but  the  translators,  un 
fortunate,  because  these  two,  above  all  others, 
require  a  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  and 
character  from  which  they  rose,  to  ascertain  their 
scope  and  tendency."  1 

"The  great  movement  in  German  literature" 
Margaret  Fuller  says,  "is  too  recent  to  be  duly 
estimated,  even  by  those  most  interested  to  ex 
amine  it;"  because  she  thought,  there  was  still 
"the  feeling  of  fresh  creative  life  at  work  there." 
Any  conclusive  criticism  upon  this  important  liter 
ary  period  and  upon  its  greatest  literary  genius, 
Goethe,  was  therefore  somewhat  premature  then, 
Goethe  having  passed  away  only  a  few  years 
before.  With  these  critics  "who  declare,  from  an 
occasional  peep  through  a  spy-glass,"  what  they 
see  and  think  of  the  great  poet,  she  has  no 
patience.  She  wishes  him  judged  from  the  great 
historical  standpoint, — the  only  one  which  we 

1  Preface  to  Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe,  x  f. 


156    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

consider  valid  today.  "Would  these  hasty  critics," 
she  writes,  "but  recollect  how  long  it  was  before 
similar  movements  in  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and 
England,  found  their  proper  place  in  the  thoughts 
of  other  nations,  they  would  not  think  fifty  years' 
investigation  too  much  for  fifty  years7  growth, 
and  would  no  longer  provoke  the  ire  of  those 
who  are  lighting  their  tapers  at  the  German  torch. 
.  .  .  The  objections  usually  made,  .  .  .  are  such 
as  would  answer  themselves  on  a  more  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  subject.  .  .  .  The  objec 
tions,  so  far  as  I  know  them,  may  be  resolved 
into  these  classes : 

He  is  not  a  Christian; 
He  is  not  an  Idealist; 
He  is  not  a  Democrat; 
He  is  not  Schiller."1 

If  we  add  to  this  list  "He  is  »ot  an  orthodox 
churchman,"  we  have  all  the  arguments  brought 
against  him  in  America.  Of  Goethe's  Christianity 
she  says:  "He  sought  always  for  unity.  ...  A 
creative  activity  was  his  law.  He  was  far  from 
insensible  to  spiritual  beauty  in  the  human  char 
acter.  He  has  embodied  it  in  its  finest  forms; 

1  Preface  to  Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe,  XII  ff. 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  157 

but  he  merely  put  it  in,  what  seemed  to  him,  its 
place,  as  the  key-stone  of  the  social  arch,  and 
paints  neither  that  nor  any  other  state  with 
partiality.  Such  was  his  creed  as  a  writer.  'I 
paint/  he  seems  to  say,  'what  I  have  seen; 
choose  from  it,  or  take  it  all,  as  you  will  or  can.' 
.  .  .  His  God  was  rather  the  creative  and  uphold 
ing  than  the  paternal  spirit;  his  religion,  that  all 
his  powers  must  be  unfolded;  his  faith,  'that 
nature  could  not  dispense  with  Immortality/  In 
the  most  trying  occasions  of  his  life,  he  referred 
to  'the  great  Idea  of  Duty  which  alone  can  hold 
us  upright/  .  .  .  Those  who  cannot  draw  their 
moral  for  themselves  [from  his  works]  had  best 
leave  his  books  alone;  they  require  the  power  as 
life  does.  This  advantage  only  does  he  give,  or 
intend  to  give  you,  of  looking  at  life  brought  into 
a  compass  convenient  to  your  eye,  by  a  great  ob 
server  and  artist,  and  at  times  when  you  can  look 
uninterrupted  by  action,  undisturbed  by  passion. 

uHe  was  not  an  Idealist:  that  is  to  say,  he 
thought  not  so  much  of  what  might  be  as  what  is. 
He  did  not  seek  to  alter  or  exalt  Nature,  but 
merely  to  select  from  her  rich  stores."  This 
answers  one  of  Emerson's  chief  reproaches  against 
Goethe;  namely,  that  he  was  too  much  a  poet  of 


158    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

the  Actual  and  stuck  too  close  to  Mother  Earth. 
Goethe  paints  life  as  he  found  it,  but  selected 
from  its  rich  stores  whatever  served  best  his  pur 
pose,  which  was  never  a  low  one.  This  also 
answers  Margaret  Fuller's  own  criticism  further 
on  in  the  preface  (p.  xxi)  that  Goethe  uhad  the 
artist's  eye,  and  the  artist's  hand,  but  not  the 
artist's  love  of  structure."  Goethe  was  more  than 
an  artist.  He  was  a  combination  of  poet  and 
philosopher  such  as  the  world  had  notseenbefore; 
his  real  object,  as  she,  as  also  Emerson,  later, 
justly  says,  was  truth,  not  art  alone.  "I  am  well 
satisfied  that  'he  went  the  way  that  God  and 
Nature  called  him,'  "  Margaret  Fuller  correctly 
concludes. 

"He  was  an  Aristocrat."  This  she  admits,  but 
adds:  uYet  a  minority  is  needed  to  keep  these 
liberals  in  check,  and  make  them  pause  upon  their 
measures  long  enough  to  know  what  they  are 
doing;  for,  as  yet,  the  caldron  of  liberty  has 
shown  a  constant  disposition  to  overboil.  The 
artist  and  literary  man  is  naturally  thrown  into 
this  body,  by  his  need  of  repose,  and  a  firm  ground 
to  work  in  his  proper  way.  Certainly  Goethe  by 
nature  belonged  on  that  side;  and  no  one,  who 
can  understand  the  structure  of  his  mind,  instead 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  159 

of  judging  him  by  his  outward  relations,  will 
impute  to  him  unworthy  motives.  .  .  .  To  be 
sincere,  consistent,  and  intelligent  in  what  one 
believes,  is  what  is  important;  a  higher  power 
takes  care  of  the  rest. 

"In  reply  to  those  who  object  to  him  that  he  is 
not  Schiller,  it  may  be  remarked  that  Shakespeare 
was  not  Milton,  nor  Ariosto  Tasso.  It  was, 
indeed,  unnecessary  that  there  should  be  two 
Schillers,  one  being  sufficient  to  represent  a  certain 
class  of  thoughts  and  opinions.  It  would  be  well 
if  the  admirers  of  Schiller  would  learn  from  him 
to  admire  and  profit  by  his  friend  and  coadjutor, 
as  he  himself  did. 

"Schiller  was  wise  enough  to  judge  each  nature 
by  its  own  law,  great  enough  to  understand  great 
ness  of  an  order  different  from  his  own.  He  was 
too  well  aware  of  the  value  of  the  more  beautiful 
existences  to  quarrel  with  the  rose  for  not  being  a 
lily,  the  eagle  for  not  being  a  swan. 

"I  am  not  fanatical  as  to  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  the  study  of  German  literature," 
she  says,  "I  am  not  a  blind  admirer  of  Goethe." 
"I  suppose,  indeed,  that  there  lie  the  life  and 
learning  of  the  century  [in  the  German  litera 
ture],  and  that  he  who  does  not  go  to  those 


i6o    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

sources  can  have  no  just  notion  of  the  workings 
of  the  spirit  in  the  European  world  these  last  fifty 
years  or  more."  Margaret  Fuller  states  frankly 
the  faults  she  found  with  Goethe  and  German 
literature  in  general,  for  she  did  find  some, — yet 
justly  says,  "No  one  who  has  a  higher  aim  in 
reading  German  books  than  mere  amusement;  no 
one  who  knows  what  it  is  to  become  acquainted 
with  a  literature  as  literature,  in  its  history  of 
mutual  influences,  diverse  yet  harmonious  tenden 
cies,  can  leave  aside  either  Schiller  or  Goethe;  but 
far,  far  least  the  latter.  It  would  be  leaving 
Augustus  Caesar  out  of  the  history  of  Rome  be 
cause  he  was  not  Brutus. 

"Having  now  confessed  to  what  Goethe  is  not,11 
she  further  writes,  "I  would  indicate,  as  briefly  as 
possible,  what,  to  me,  he  is. 

"Most  valuable  as  a  means  of  balancing  the 
judgment  and  suggesting  thought  from  his  antag 
onism  to  the  spirit  of  the  age.  .  .  . 

"As  one  of  the  finest  lyric  poets  of  modern 
times.  Bards  are  also  prophets;  and  woe  to  those 
who  refuse  to  hear  the  singer,  to  tender  him  the 
golden  cup  of  homage.  Their  punishment  is  in 
their  fault. 

"As  the  best  writer  of  the  German  language, 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  161 

who  has  availed  himself  of  all  its  advantages  of 
richness  and  flexibility,  and  added  to  them  a 
degree  of  lightness,  grace,  clearness,  and  precision, 
beyond  any  other  writer  of  his  time.  .  .  . 

"As  a  critic,  on  art  and  literature,  not  to  be  sur 
passed  in  independence,  fairness,  powers  of 
sympathy,  and  largeness  of  view. 

"Could  I  omit  to  study  this  eighty  years'  journal 
of  my  parent's  life,  traced  from  so  commanding 
a  position,  by  so  sure  a  hand,  and  one  informed 
by  so  keen  and  cultivated  an  eye?  Where  else 
shall  we  find  so  large  a  mirror,  or  one  with  so 
finely  decorated  a  frame?" 

"As  a  mind  which  has  known  how  to  reconcile 
individuality  of  character  with  universality  of 
thought;  a  mind  which,  whatever  be  its  faults, 
ruled  and  relied  on  itself  alone  [Selbst  Leben] ; 
a  nature  which  knew  its  law,  and  revolved  on  its 
proper  axis,  unrepenting,  never  bustling,  always 
active,  never  stagnant,  always  calm."  * 

That  some  of  the  objections  which  Margaret 
Fuller  expresses  in  this  same  article  against 
Goethe,  along  with  her  praise  of  him,  were  not 
deeply  felt  and  had  "method"  in  them,  is  indi 
cated  by  the  following  sentence  with  which  she 

1  Preface  to  Eckermann's  Conversations  with   Goethe,  xn  ff. 


162    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

concludes  her  objections:  "I  flatter  myself  I 
have  now  found  fault  enough  to  prove  me  a 
worthy  critic,  after  the  usual  fashion."  The 
fact  that  she  calls  him  her  parent  outweighs  all 
the  faults  she  could  find.  Surely  there  can  be  no 
more  influential  person  in  our  lives  and  esteem 
than  a  parent. 

In  her  masterly  defense  of  Goethe  in  the  Dial, 
entitled  Menzel' s  View  of  Goethe,  she  says: 
"Menzel's  view  of  Goethe  is  that  of  a  Philistine, 
in  the  least  opprobrious  sense  of  the  term.  It  is 
one  which  has  long  been  applied  in  Germany  to 
petty  cavillers  and  incompetent  critics.  I  do  not 
wish  to  convey  a  sense  so  disrespectful  in  speak 
ing  of  Menzel.  He  has  a  vigorous  and  brilliant 
mind,  and  a  wide,  though  imperfect,  culture.  He 
is  a  man  of  talent,  but  talent  cannot  comprehend 
genius.  He  judges  of  Goethe  as  a  Philistine, 
inasmuch  as  he  does  not  enter  into  Canaan,  and 
read  the  prophet  by  the  light  of  his  own  law, 
but  looks  at  him  from  without,  and  tries  him  by 
a  rule  beneath  which  he  never  lived.  That  there 
was  something  Menzel  saw;  what  that  something 
was  not  he  saw,  but  what  it  was  he  could  not  see; 
none  could  see;  it  was  something  to  be  felt  and 
known  at  the  time  of  its  apparition,  but  the  clear 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  163 

sight  of  it  was  reserved  to  a  day  far  enough  re 
moved  from  its  sphere  to  get  a  commanding  point 
of  view.  Has  that  day  come?  A  little  while  ago 
it  seemed  so;  certain  features  of  Goethe's  person 
ality,  certain  results  of  his  tendency,  had  become 
so  manifest.  But  as  the  plants  he  planted  mature, 
they  shed  a  new  seed  for  a  yet  more  noble 
growth.  A  wider  experience,  a  deeper  insight, 
make  rejected  words  come  true,  and  bring  a  more 
refined  perception  of  meaning  already  discerned. 
Like  all  his  elder  brothers  of  the  elect  band,  the 
forlorn  hope  of  humanity,  he  obliges  us  to  live 
and  grow,  that  we  may  walk  by  his  side;  vainly 
we  strive  to  leave  him  behind  in  some  niche  of 
the  hall  of  our  ancestors;  a  few  steps  onward  and 
we  find  him  again,  of  yet  serener  eye  and  more 
towering  mien  than  on  his  other  pedestal.  Former 
measurements  of  his  size  have,  like  the  girdle 
bound  by  the  nymphs  round  the  infant  Apollo, 
only  served  to  make  him  outgrow  the  unworthy 
compass.  The  still  rising  sun,  with  its  broader 
light,  shows  us  it  is  not  yet  noon.  In  him  is  soon 
perceived  a  prophet  of  our  own  age,  as  well  as  a 
representative  of  his  own;  and  we  doubt  whether 
the  revolutions  of  the  century  be  not  required  to 
interpret  the  quiet  depths  of  his  Saga. 


1 64    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

"Sure  it  is  that  none  has  yet  found  Goethe's 
place,  as  sure  that  none  can  claim  to  be  his  peer, 
who  has  not  some  time,  ay,  and  for  a  long  time, 
been  his  pupil ! 1 

"Yet  much  truth  has  been  spoken  of  him  in 
detail,  some  by  Menzel,  but  in  so  superficial  a 
spirit,  and  with  so  narrow  a  view  of  its  bearings, 
as  to  have  all  the  effect  of  falsehood.  Such 
denials  of  the  crown  can  only  fix  it  more  firmly 
on  the  head  of  the  'Old  Heathen.'  To  such  the 
best  answer  may  be  given  in  the  words  of  Bettina 
Brentano :  'The  others  criticise  thy  works ;  I  only 
know  that  they  lead  us  on  and  on  till  we  live  in 
them.'  And  thus  will  all  criticism  end  in  making 
men  and  women  read  these  works,  and  'on  and 
on,'  till  they  forget  whether  the  author  be  a 
patriot  or  a  moralist,  in  the  deep  humanity  of 
the  thought,  the  breathing  nature  of  the  scene. 
While  words  they  have  accepted  with  immediate 
approval  fade  from  memory,  these  oft-denied 
words  of  keen,  cold  truth  return  with  ever  new 
force  and  significance. 

"Men  should  be  true,  wise,  beautiful,  pure,  and 
aspiring.  This  man  was  true  and  wise,  capable 
of  all  things.  .  .  .  Can  we,  in  a  world  where  so 

lLife  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  13  ff. 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  165 

few  men  have  in  any  degree  redeemed  their  in 
heritance,  neglect  a  nature  so  rich  and  so  mani 
festly  progressive? 

"Historically  considered,  Goethe  needs  no 
apology.  His  so-called  faults  fitted  him  all  the 
better  for  the  part  he  had  to  play.  In  cool  pos 
session  of  his  wide-ranging  genius,  he  taught  the 
imagination  of  Germany,  that  the  highest  flight 
should  be  associated  with  the  steady  sweep  and 
undazzled  eye  of  the  eagle.  Was  he  too  much 
the  connoisseur,  did  he  attach  too  great  an  im 
portance  to  the  cultivation  of  taste,  where  just 
then  German  literature  so  much  needed  to  be 
refined,  polished,  and  harmonized?  Was  he  too 
sceptical,  too  much  an  experimentalist, — how  else 
could  he  have  formed  himself  to  be  the  keenest, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  most  nearly  universal  of 
observers,  teaching  theologians,  philosophers, 
and  patriots  that  nature  comprehends  them  all, 
commands  them  all,  and  that  no  one  development 
of  life  must  exclude  the  rest?  ...  If  you  want 
a  moral  enthusiast,  is  not  there  Schiller?  If 
piety,  of  purest,  mystic  sweetness,  who  but 
Novalis?  Exuberant  sentiment,  that  treasures 
each  withered  leaf  in  a  tender  breast,  look  to  your 
Richter.  Would  you  have  men  to  find  plausible 


1 66    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

meaning  for  the  deepest  enigma,  or  to  hang  up 
each  map  of  literature,  well  painted  and  dotted 
on  its  proper  roller, — there  are  the  Schlegels. 
Men  of  ideas  were  numerous  as  migratory  crows 
in  autumn,  and  Jacobi  wrote  the  heart  into  philos 
ophy,  as  well  as  he  could.  Who  could  fill 
Goethe's  place  to  Germany,  and  to  the  world,  of 
which  she  is  now  the  teacher?  His  much-reviled 
aristocratic  turn  was  at  that  time  a  reconciling 
element.  It  is  plain  why  he  was  what  he  was, 
for  his  country  and  his  age." 

In  answer  to  Menzel's  accusation  that  Goethe 
was  not  patriotic,  she  writes.  "  'His  mother  was 
surprised,  that  when  his  brother  and  chief  play 
mate,  Jacob,  died  he  shed  no  tear.  .  .  .  After 
wards,  when  his  mother  asked  whether  he  had 
not  loved  his  brother,  he  ran  into  his  room  and 
brought  from  under  his  bed  a  bundle  of  papers, 
all  written  over,  and  said  he  had  done  all  this  for 
Jacob/ 

"Even  so  in  later  years,  had  he  been  asked  if 
he  had  not  loved  his  country  and  his  fellow-men, 
he  would  not  have  answered  by  tears  and  vows, 
but  pointed  to  his  works.  .  .  . 

"Most  men,  in  judging  another  man  ask,  Did 
he  live  up  to  our  standard?  But  to  me  it  seems 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  167 

desirable  to  ask  rather,  Did  he  live  up  to  his 
own?  ...  If  we  can  find  out  how  much  was 
given  him,  we  are  told,  in  a  pure  evangelium,  to 
judge  thereby  how  much  shall  be  required. 

"Now,  Goethe  has  given  us  both  his  own  stand 
ard  and  the  way  to  apply  it.  'To  appreciate  any 
man,  learn  first  what  object  he  proposed  to  him 
self;  next,  what  degree  of  earnestness  he  showed 
with  regard  to  attaining  that  object/ 

"And  this  is  part  of  his  hymn  for  man  made  in 
the  divine  image,  'The  Godlike/ 

"Hail  to  the  Unknown,  the 
Higher  Being 
Felt  within  us! 

There  can  none  but  man 
Perform   the  impossible. 
He  understandeth, 
Chooseth,  and  judgeth; 
He  can  impart  to  the 
Moment  duration. 

Let  noble  man 

Be  helpful  and  good; 

Ever  creating 

The  Right  and  the  Useful; 

Type  of  those  loftier 

Beings  of  whom  the  heart  whispers." 


168    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

"This  standard  is  high  enough.  It  is  what 
every  man  should  express  in  action,  the  poet  in 
music."  Margaret  Fuller  believes,  however,  that 
Goethe,  though  the  greatest  and  most  sublime 
poet  of  the  modern  world,  could  have  attained  a 
yet  higher  level  in  his  works.  She  believes  that 
his  expressions  of  the  ideal  are  "glimpses  of  the 
highest  spirituality",  "blue  sky  seen  through 
chinks  in  a  roof  which  should  never  have  been 
builded."  "He  has  used  life  to  excess,"  she  says. 
"He  is  too  rich  for  his  nobleness,  too  judicious 
for  his  inspiration,  too  humanly  wise  for  his 
divine  mission.  He  might  have  been  a  priest; 
he  is  only  a  sage  [who,  in  the  modern  conception 
of  the  term,  is  more  than  merely  a  priest;  since 
he  should  not  be  wise  only,  but  also  point  the 
way,  as  Goethe  did,  to  a  larger  life]." 

In  answer  to  Menzel's  and  the  multitude's 
accusation  that  Goethe  was  a  debauchee  and  an 
Epicurean,  which  was  also  one  of  the  chief  accu 
sations  brought  against  him  by  many  of  her  New 
England  contemporaries,  she  asks:  "Did  Goethe 
value  the  present  too  much?  It  was  not  for  the 
Epicurean  aim  of  pleasure,  but  for  use.  He,  in 
this,  was  but  an  instance  of  reaction  in  an  age  of 
painful  doubt  and  restless  striving  as  to  the 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  169 

future.  Was  his  private  life  stained  by  profli 
gacy?  That  far  largest  portion  of  his  life,  which 
is  ours,  and  which  is  expressed  in  his  works,  is 
an  unbroken  series  of  efforts  to  develop  the  higher 
elements  of  our  being."  1 

In  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  Marga 
ret  Fuller  speaks  of  heroes,  poets,  and  artists 
"with  whom  the  habitual  life  tended  to  expand  the 
soul,  deepen  and  vary  the  experience,  refine  the 
perceptions,  and  immortalize  the  hopes  and  dreams 
of  youth."  That  she  had  Goethe  in  mind  here, 
as  her  chief  example,  there  can  be  little  doubt. 
"They  were  persons,"  she  says,  "who  never  lost 
their  originality  of  character,  nor  spontaneity  of 
action.  Their  impulses  proceeded  from  a  fulness 
and  certainty  of  character  that  made  it  impossi 
ble  they  should  doubt  or  repent,  whatever  the 
results  of  their  actions  might  be. 

"They  could  not  repent,  in  matters  little  or 
great,  because  they  felt  that  their  actions  were  a 
sincere  exposition  of  the  wants  of  their  souls. 
Their  impulsiveness  was  not  the  restless  fever  of 
one  who  must  change  his  place  somehow  or  some 
whither,  but  the  waves  of  a  tide,  which  might  be 
swelled  to  vehemence  by  the  action  of  the  winds 

*Life  Without  and  Life   Within,  pp.   13   ff. 


170    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

or  the  influence  of  an  attractive  orb,  but  was  none 
the  less  subject  to  fixed  laws. 

"A  character  which  does  not  lose  its  freedom 
of  motion  and  impulse  by  contact  with  the  world, 
grows  with  its  years  more  richly  creative,  more 
freshly  individual.  It  is  a  character  governed  by 
a  principle  of  its  own,  and  not  by  rules  taken  from 
other  men's  experience;  and  therefore  it  is  that 

'Age   cannot   wither   them,    nor   custom   stale 
Their  infinite  variety.' 

"Like  violins,  they  gain  by  age,  and  the  spirit 
of  him  who  discourseth  through  them  most  excel 
lent  music, 

'Like  wine  well  kept  and  long, 
Heady,  nor  harsh,  nor  strong, 
With  each  succeeding  year  is  quaffed 
A  richer,  purer,  mellower  draught/  "  1 

Menzel  claimed  that  at  a  time  when  the  whole 
German  nation  was  wrought  up  by  conflicting 
ideas  and  political  strife  Goethe  was  serene  and 
calm,  apparently  indifferent  to  the  calamity  about 
him,  continuing,  seemingly  undisturbed,  his  work 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth   Century,  p.  257. 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  171 

as  it  lay  mapped  out  before  him  every  day.  "His 
serenity  alone,  in  such  a  time  of  scepticism  and 
sorrowful  seeking,"  Margaret  Fuller  says,  in  an 
swer  to  this  accusation,  "gives  him  a  claim  to  all 
our  study.  See  how  he  rides  at  anchor,  lordly, 
rich  in  freight,  every  white  sail  ready  to  be 
unfurled  at  a  moment's  warning !  And  it  must 
be  a  very  slight  survey  which  can  confound  this 
calm  self-trust  with  selfish  indifference  of  temper 
ament.  .  .  .  He  never  halts,  never  repines,  never 
is  puzzled,  like  other  men;  that  tranquillity,  full 
of  life,  that  ceaseless  but  graceful  motion,  'without 
haste,  without  rest,'  for  which  we  all  are  striving, 
he  has  attained.  And  is  not  his  love  of  the  noblest 
kind?  Reverence  the  highest,  have  patience  with 
the  lowest.  Let  this  day's  performance  of  the 
meanest  duty  be  thy  religion.  Are  the  stars  too 
distant,  pick  up  that  pebble  that  lies  at  thy  foot, 
and  from  it  learn  the  all.  Go  out  like  Saul,  the 
son  of  Kish,  look  earnestly  after  the  meanest  of 
thy  father's  goods,  and  a  kingdom  shall  be  brought 
thee.  The  least  act  of  pure  self-renunciation  hal 
lows,  for  the  moment,  all  within  its  sphere.  The 
philosopher  may  mislead,  the  devil  tempt,  yet 
innocence,  though  wounded  and  bleeding  as  it 
goes,  must  reach  at  last  the  holy  city.  The  power 


172    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

of  sustaining  himself  and  guiding  others  rewards 
man  sufficiently  for  the  longest  apprenticeship.  Is 
not  this  lore  the  noblest?  .  .  .  He  was  true,  for 
he  knew  that  nothing  can  be  false  to  him  who  is 
true,  and  that  to  genius  nature  has  pledged  her 
protection."  * 

"The  greatness  of  Goethe, "  she  says,  "his  na 
tion  has  felt  for  more  than  half  a  century;  the 
world  is  beginning  to  feel  it,  but  time  may  not 
yet  have  ripened  his  critic;  especially  as  the  grand 
historical  standing  point  is  the  only  one  from 
which  a  comprehensive  view  could  be  taken  of 
him."  2 

In  thus  concluding  the  preface  to  the  Trans 
lation  of  Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe, 
she  gives  expression  to  the  most  important  truth 
she  found,  in  fact,  the  only  criterion  by  which  we 
may  judge  the  real  worth  of  any  great  man  to  his 
age,  or  to  the  world:  the  historical  point  of  view. 
In  arriving  at  this  point  of  view,  Margaret  Fuller 
not  only  surpassed  Carlyle,  but  also  preceded  by 
decades  the  contemporary  critics  of  Goethe  in 
Germany,  who  could  not  escape  from  the  baleful 
influence  of  Hegel's  Philosophy.  And  we  may 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  20  ff. 

2  Preface  to  Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe,  xxii  f. 


DEFENCE  OF  GOETHE  173 

not  claim  too  much  by  saying  that  she  was  led  to 
take  this  historical  attitude  by  her  thorough  study 
of  Goethe  himself.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
had  she  been  permitted  to  finish  her  proposed 
Life  of  Goethe,  she  would  have  written  it  in  the 
true  historical  spirit,  which  her  best  criticisms  of 
him  breathe.  Certainly,  we  can  say  with  Fred 
erick  H.  Hedge,  one  of  her  intimate  friends  and 
teachers,  that  what  she  did  write  of  the  great 
German  poet,  taken  all  in  all,  is  "one  of  the  best 
things  she  has  written",  and  uis  one  of  the  best 
criticisms  extant  of  Goethe."  * 

1  Memoirs,  I.  p.  96. 


Chapter    V 

INTERPRETATION,  CRITICISM  AND 
TRANSLATION  OF  GOETHE 

Margaret  Fuller  was  more  than  merely  a  diligent 
student  of  Goethe  upon  whose  inner  life  his  full 
power  was  brought  to  bear  with  wondrous  effect. 
She  was  also  an  unusually  clear-sighted  critic  and 
appreciative  interpreter  of  his  works — both  from 
a  philosophical  and  an  artistic  standpoint.  The 
study  of  German  in  America  during  the  fourth 
and  fifth  decades  of  the  last  century  was  still  in 
its  infancy.  It  is  true  there  were  a  few  men 
living  in  and  about  Cambridge  and  Boston  at 
that  time  who  understood  Goethe,  and  were  very 
fair  interpreters  of  his  works.  But  none  of  them 
comprehended  or  interpreted  him  nearly  so  well 
as  Margaret  Fuller  did ;  nor  were  any  so  active  and 
aggressive  as  she  in  disseminating  German  ideas 
and  principles.  Just  such  an  influential  and  ap 
preciative  critic  of  German,  as  she,  was  much 
needed  in  America  at  the  time.  The  slow  progress 

174 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     175 

in  the  study  of  German  writers  here  was  partly 
due,  at  least,  to  the  very  fact  that  readers  did  not 
understand  the  true  mission  to  humanity  of  these 
great  thinkers,  nor  could  they  appreciate  the 
beauty  of  their  works. 

Most  of  the  misinterpretations  and  lack  of 
appreciation  of  German  works — and  those  of 
Goethe  especially — were  due,  however,  to  a  strong 
religious  prejudice.  Goethe  came  with  a  new 
evangel,  and  this  evangel  did  not  coincide  with 
the  Puritan  religious  ideal.  Goethe  came  with 
his  doctrine  of  "God-Nature,"  or  to  phrase  it  a 
little  differently,  "Sinnlich-Sittlich,"  in  which  he, 
as  was  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter,  took  cog 
nizance  of  one  aspect — the  sensuous  side — in  the 
development  of  character,  whichhadbeenneglected 
by  Puritanism  and  the  religious  sects  that  had 
their  origin  in  Puritanism,  namely,  the  Unitarians 
and  the  Transcendentalists.  Because  of  his  in 
herited  Puritan  ideas  the  New  Englander  believed 
that  this  side  of  human  nature  was  of  the  "Evil 
One."  Naturally,  therefore,  Goethe  was  con 
demned  as  a  Pagan,  and  his  works  as  immoral ; 
since  much  was  found  in  them  that  pertained  to  the 
sensual  nature.  Margaret  Fuller,  as  we  have 
seen,  had,  to  a  high  degree,  freed  herself  from 


176    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

these  same  Puritan  ideas,  and  had  received  a  full 
development  of  her  whole  nature  and  inner  life 
through  Goethe.  She  knew  exactly  how  a  New 
Englander  felt,  and  could  therefore,  make 
Goethe's  doctrine  appeal  to  him  better  than  a 
native-born  German  could  do.  Hence,  nobody 
was  better  adapted  to  become  Goethe's  inter 
preter  among  her  countrymen  than  she. 

The  work  of  Goethe  that  held  the  uppermost 
place  in  Margaret  Fuller's  estimation  was,  of 
course,  Faust,  that  "work  without  a  parallel,"  as 
she  called  it,  "one  of  those  few  originals  which 
have  their  laws  within  themselves,  and  should 
always  be  discussed  singly."  *  Of  this  great 
drama  she  says  in  her  second  article  on  Goethe  in 
the  Dial:  "  'Faust'  contains  the  great  idea  of  his 
[Goethe's]  life,  as  indeed  there  is  but  one  great 
poetic  idea  possible  to  man — the  progress  of  a 
soul  through  the  various  forms  of  existence.2 

"All  his  other  works,  whatever  their  miraculous 
beauty  of  execution,  are  mere  chapters  to  this 
poem,  illustrative  of  particular  points.  .  .  .3 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  133. 

3  See    also    Margaret    Fuller's    Translation    of    Eckermann's 
Conversations  with  Goethe,  Introd.  p.  x. 
1  Life  Without  and  Life  Witnin,  p.  35. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     177 

"The  fiercest  passions  are  not  so  dangerous  foes 
to  the  soul  as  the  cold  scepticism  of  the  under 
standing.  The  Jewish  demon  assailed  the  man 
of  Uz  with  physical  ills,  the  Lucifer  of  the  middle 
ages  tempted  his  passions;  but  the  Mephistopheles 
of  the  eighteenth  century  bade  the  finite  strive 
to  compass  the  infinite,  and  the  intellect  attempt 
to  solve  all  the  problems  of  the  soul. 

"This  path  Faust  had  taken:  it  is  that  of 
modern  necromancy.  Not  willing  to  grow  into 
God  by  a  steady  worship  of  a  life,  men  would 
enforce  his  presence  by  a  spell;  not  willing  to 
learn  his  existence  by  the  slow  processes  of  their 
own,  they  strive  to  bind  it  in  a  word,  that  they  may 
wear  it  about  the  neck  as  a  talisman. 

"Faust,  bent  on  reaching  the  center  of  the  uni 
verse  through  the  intellect  alone,  naturally,  after 
a  length  of  trial,  which  has  prevented  the  har 
monious  unfolding  of  his  nature,  falls  into  de 
spair.  He  has  striven  for  one  object,  and  that 
object  eludes  him.  Returning  upon  himself,  he 
finds  large  tracts  of  his  nature  lying  waste  and 
cheerless.  He  is  too  noble  for  apathy,  too  wise 
for  vulgar  content  with  the  animal  enjoyments  of 
life.  Yet  the  thirst  he  has  been  so  many  years 
increasing  is  not  to  be  borne.  Give  me,  he  cries, 


iy8    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

but  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  my  burning  tongue. 
Yet  in  casting  himself  with  a  wild  recklessness 
upon  the  impulses  of  his  nature  yet  untried,  there 
is  disbelief  that  any  thing  short  of  the  All  can 
satisfy  the  immortal  spirit.  His  first  attempt  was 
noble,  though  mistaken,  and  under  the  saving  in 
fluence  of  it,  he  makes  the  compact,  whose 
condition  cheats  the  fiend  at  last." 

Margaret  Fuller  then  quotes  the  eight  lines 
from  Faust,  i.  1694  ff.,  containing  the  compact 
which  she  thus  translates  rather  freely: 

"Canst  thou  by  falsehood  or  by  flattery 
Make  me  one  moment  with  myself  at  peace, 
Cheat  me  into  tranquillity?    Come  then 
And  welcome,  life's  last  day. 
Make  me  but  to  the  moment  say, 
O  fly  not  yet,  thou  art  so  fair, 
Then  let  me  perish,  etc." 

"But  this  condition,"  she  continues,  "is  never 
fulfilled.  Faust  cannot  be  content  with  sensuality, 
with  the  charlatanry  of  ambition,  nor  with 
riches. "  1  "Faust  became  a  wiser  if  not  a  nobler 
being."  2  "His  heart  never  becomes  callous,  nor 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  36  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  34. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     179 

his  moral  and  intellectual  perceptions  obtuse.  He 
is  saved  at  last. 

"With  the  progress  of  an  individual  soul  is 
shadowed  forth  that  of  the  soul  of  the  age;  be 
ginning  in  intellectual  scepticism;  sinking  into 
license ;  cheating  itself  with  dreams  of  perfect  bliss, 
to  be  at  once  attained  by  means  no  surer  than  a 
spurious  paper  currency;  longing  itself  back  from 
conflict  between  the  spirit  and  the  flesh,  induced 
by  Christianity,  to  the  Greek  era  with  its  har 
monious  development  of  body  and  mind;  striving 
to  re-embody  the  loved  phantom  of  classical 
beauty  in  the  heroism  of  the  middle  age;  flying 
from  the  Byron  despair  of  those  who  die  because 
they  cannot  soar  without  wings,  to  schemes  how 
ever  narrow,  of  practical  utility, — redeemed  at 
last  through  mercy  alone."  1 

"The  Seeker  represents  the  Spirit  of  the  Age. 
He  [Faust]  never  sinned  save  by  yielding,  and 
yet  he  was  emphatically  saved  by  grace.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  what  Goethe  meant  until  he  got 
to  the  Tower  of  the  Middle  Ages.  That  made 
all  clear."  2 

The  character  mentioned  by  Margaret  Fuller 

*Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  37  f. 
2  Margaret  and  Her  Friends,  pp.   131   f. 


i8o    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

again  and  again  is  Gretchen.  Two  short  passages 
will  suffice  here  to  show  how  Margaret  Fuller 
thought  of  this  charming,  unfortunate  girl  and 
how  she  interpreted  her  character.  "Gretchen,  in 
the  golden  cloud,  is  raised  above  all  past  delusions, 
worthy  to  redeem  and  upbear  the  wise  man  who 
stumbled  into  the  pit  of  error  while  searching  for 
truth."  1  "Gretchen,  by  her  innocence  of  heart, 
and  the  resolute  aversion  to  the  powers  of  dark 
ness,  which  her  mind  in  its  most  shattered  state> 
does  not  forget,  redeems  not  only  her  own  soul, 
but  that  of  her  erring  lover."  2  * 

Most  interesting  is  Margaret  Fuller's  criticism 
of  Mephistopheles.  Hardly  anything  which  has 
been  said  or  written  since  characterizes  better  the 
demon  within  our  inner  nature  and  the  various 
forms  in  which  he  has  appeared  to  man,  and  the 
deep  meaning  underlying  these  several  forms,  than 
these  two  paragraphs: 

"The  demon  of  the  man  of  Uz;  the  facetious 
familiar  of  Luther,  cracking  nuts  on  the  bed 
posts,  put  to  flight  by  hurling  an  ink-horn;  the 
haughty  Satan  of  Milton,  whose  force  of  will  is 
a  match  for  all  but  Omnipotence;  the  sorrowful 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  228. 

2  Preface  to  Conversations  with   Goethe,  p.  xiii. 

*  For  further  discussions  of  Gretchen,  see  below  p.  209. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     181 

satire  of  Byron's  temper;  the  cold  polished  irony 
of  Goethe's  Mephistopheles;  all  mark  with  admir 
able  precision  the  state  of  the  age  and  the  mental 
position  of  the  writer.  Man  tells  his  aspirations 
in  his  God;  but  in  his  demon  he  shows  his  depth 
of  experience,  and  casts  light  into  the  cavern 
through  which  he  worked  his  course  up  to  the 
cheerful  day." 

".  .  .  If  we  compare  the  Mephistopheles  and 
Lucifer  with  the  buskined  devil  of  the  mob,  the 
goblin  with  the  cloven  foot  and  tail,  we  realize 
the  vast  development  of  inward  life.  What  a  step 
from  slavish  fears  of  injury  or  outward  retribution 
to  representations,  like  these,  of  inward  dangers, 
the  pitfalls  and  fearful  dens  within  our  nature, 
and  he  who  thoughtfully  sees  the  danger  begins 
already  to  subdue."  * 

"The  second  part  of  Faust  is  full  of  meaning, 
resplendent  with  beauty;  but  it  is  rather  an  ap 
pendix  to  the  first  part  than  a  fulfillment  of  its 
promise.  The  world,  remembering  the  powerful 
stamp  of  individual  feeling,  universal  indeed  in 
its  application,  but  individual  in  its  life,  which 
had  conquered  all  its  scruples  in  the  first  part, 
was  vexed  to  find,  instead  of  the  man  Faust,  the 

*Dial,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  258. 


182    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

spirit  of  the  age, — discontented  with  the  shadowy 
manifestation  of  truths  it  longed  to  embrace,  and, 
above  all,  disappointed  that  the  author  no  longer 
met  us  face  to  face,  or  riveted  the  ear  by  its  deep 
tones  of  grief  and  resolve."  * 

In  answer  to  this  criticism  so  common  among 
many  of  the  readers  of  the  second  part  of  Faust, 
she  says :  "When  the  world  shall  have  got  rid  of 
the  still  overpowering  influence  of  the  first  part, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  fundamental  idea  is  never 
lost  sight  of  in  the  second.  The  change  is  that 
Goethe,  though  the  same  thinker,  is  no  longer  the 
same  person."  2 

"Goethe  borrowed  from  the  book  of  Job  the 
grand  thought  of  permitted  temptation  .  .  .  [He] 
has  shown  the  benefits  of  deepening  individual 
consciousness  .  .  .  [and]  left  his  unfinished  leaves 
as  they  fell  from  his  life.  By  leading  a  soul 
through  various  processes  to  final  redemption, 
we  are  made  to  expect  an  indication  of  the 
steps  through  which  man  passes  to  spiritual 
purification."  3 

Wilhelm  Meister,  the  work  so  little  appreciated 
and  so  much  abused  in  New  England  during  Mar- 

lLife  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  38. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  38. 

3  Dial,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  248  f. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     183 

garet  Fuller's  life,  had  a  charm  for  her  only 
second  to  that  of  Faust.  Here,  in  this  great  work, 
she  found  Goethe's  philosophy  of  the  development 
of  human  character  in  its  clearest  outlines  and 
most  complete  form.  She  looked  at  this  work, 
therefore,  as  one  of  the  greatest  educational  works 
that  the  world  had  ever  produced. 

uThe  continuation  of  Faust  in  the  practical 
sense  of  the  education  of  man,"  she  says,  "is  to 
be  found  in  Wilhelm  Meister."  l  "Faust  and 
Wilhelm  Meister  [are]  so  easily  taken  captive 
by  the  present.  I  admit  the  wisdom  of  this  course, 
where,  as  in  Wilhelm  Meister,  the  aim  is  to 
suggest  the  various  ways  in  which  the  whole  nature 
may  be  educated  through  the  experiences  of  this 
world."  "Renunciation,  the  power  of  sacrificing 
the  temporary  for  the  permanent,"  she  writes 
again,  "is  the  leading  idea  in  one  of  his  great 
works,  Wilhelm  Meister."  This  is  the  great 
doctrine  which  Wilhelm  Meister  had  taught  her 
and  which  she  tried  to  impress  upon  others. 

Continuing  in  the  Dial  the  comparison  between 
Faust  and  Wilhelm  Meister,  she  says :  "Here 
[in  Wilhelm  Meister^  we  see  the  change  by 
strongest  contrast.  The  main  spring  of  action  is 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  38. 

2  Preface  to  Conversations  with  Goethe,  p,  xm. 


1 84    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

no  longer  the  impassioned  and  noble  seeker  [as 
in  Faust"],  but  a  disciple  of  circumstance,  whose 
most  marked  characteristic  is  a  taste  for  virtue 
and  knowledge.  Wilhelm  certainly  prefers  these 
conditions  of  existence  to  their  opposites,  but  there 
is  nothing  so  decided  in  his  character  as  to  prevent 
his  turning  a  clear  eye  on  every  part  of  the 
variegated  world-scene  which  the  writer  wished 
to  place  before  us. 

"To  see  all  till  he  knows  all  sufficiently  to  put 
objects  into  their  relations,  then  to  concentrate 
his  powers  and  use  his  knowledge  under  recog 
nized  conditions, — such  is  the  progress  of  man 
from  Apprentice  to  Master. 

".  .  .  'Tis  pity  that  the  volumes  of  the  Wan- 
derjahre  have  not  been  translated  entire,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  Lehrjahre,  for  many,  who  have 
read  the  latter  only,  fancy  that  Wilhelm  becomes 
a  master  in  that  work.  Far  from  it;  he  has  but  just 
become  conscious  of  the  higher  powers  that  have 
ceaselessly  been  weaving  his  fate.  Far  from  being 
as  yet  a  Master,  he  but  now  begins  to  be  a  Knower. 
In  the  Wanderjahre  we  find  him  gradually  learn 
ing  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and  hardening  into 
manhood,  by  applying  what  he  has  learned  for 
himself  to  the  education  of  his  child.  He  con- 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     185 

verses  on  equal  terms  with  the  wise  and  benefi 
cent;  he  is  no  longer  duped  and  played  with 
for  his  good,  but  met  directly  mind  to  mind. 

"Wilhelm  is  a  master  when  he  can  command 
his  actions,  yet  keep  his  mind  always  open  to  new 
means  of  knowledge;  when  he  has  looked  at  vari 
ous  ways  of  living,  various  forms  of  religion  and 
of  character,  till  he  has  learned  to  be  tolerant  of 
all,  discerning  of  good  in  all;  when  the  astrono 
mer  imparts  to  his  equal  ear  his  highest  thoughts, 
and  the  poor  cottager  seeks  his  aid  as  a  patron 
and  counsellor. 

"To  be  capable  of  all  duties,  limited  by  none, 
with  an  open  eye,  a  skilful  and  ready  hand,  an 
assured  step,  a  mind  deep,  calm,  foreseeing  with 
out  anxiety,  hopeful  without  the  aid  of  illusion, — 
such  is  the  ripe  state  of  manhood.  This  attained, 
the  great  soul  should  still  seek  and  labor,  but 
strive  and  battle  never  more. 

"The  reason  for  Goethe's  choosing  so  negative 
a  character  as  Wilhelm,  and  leading  him  through 
scenes  of  vulgarity  and  low  vice,  would  be  obvious 
enough  to  a  person  of  any  depth  of  thought, 
even  if  he  himself  had  not  announced  it.  He  thus 
obtained  room  to  paint  life  as  it  really  is,  and 
bring  forward  those  slides  in  the  magic  lantern 


1 86    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

which  are  always  known  to  exist,  though  they 
may  not  be  spoken  of  to  ears  polite. 

"Wilhelm  cannot  abide  in  tradition,  nor  do  as 
his  fathers  did  before  him,  merely  for  the  sake  of 
money  or  a  standing  in  society.  The  stage,  here 
an  emblem  of  the  ideal  life  as  it  gleams  before 
unpractised  eyes,  offers,  he  fancies,  opportunity 
for  a  life  of  thought  as  distinguished  from  one 
of  routine.  Here,  no  longer  the  simple  citizen, 
but  Man,  all  Men,  he  will  rightly  take  upon  him 
self  the  different  aspects  of  life,  till  poet-wise,  he 
shall  have  learned  them  all. 

"No  doubt  the  attraction  of  the  stage  to  young 
persons  of  a  vulgar  character  is  merely  the  bril 
liancy  of  its  trappings;  but  to  Wilhelm,  as  to 
Goethe,  it  was  this  poetic  freedom  and  daily  sug 
gestion  which  seemed  likely  to  offer  such  an 
agreeable  studio  in  the  green  room. 

"But  the  ideal  must  be  rooted  in  the  real,  else 
the  poet's  life  degenerates  into  buffoonery  or  vice. 
Wilhelm  finds  the  characters  formed  by  this 
would-be  ideal  existence  more  despicable  than 
those  which  grew  up  on  the  track,  dusty  and 
bustling  and  dull  as  it  had  seemed,  of  common 
life.  He  is  prepared  by  disappointment  for  a 
higher  ambition. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     187 

"In  the  house  of  the  count  he  finds  genuine 
elegance,  genuine  sentiment,  but  not  sustained  by 
wisdom,  or  a  devotion  to  important  objects.  This 
love,  this  life,  is  also  inadequate. 

"Now,  with  Teresa  he  sees  the  blessings  of 
domestic  peace.  He  sees  a  mind  sufficient  for 
itself,  finding  employment  and  education  in  the 
perfect  economy  of  a  little  world.  The  lesson 
is  pertinent  to  the  state  of  mind  in  which  his 
former  experiences  have  left  him,  as  indeed  our 
deepest  lore  is  won  from  reaction.  But  a  sud 
den  change  of  scene  introduces  him  to  the  society 
of  the  sage  and  learned  uncle,  the  sage  and  benefi 
cent  Natalia.  Here  he  finds  the  same  virtues  as 
with  Teresa,  and  enlightened  by  a  larger 
wisdom.  .  .  . 

"The  Count  of  Thorane,  a  man  of  powerful 
character,  who  made  a  deep  impression  on  his 
childhood,  was,  he  says,  'reverenced  by  me  as  an 
uncle/  And  the  ideal  wise  man  of  this  common 
life  epic  stands  before  us  as  'The  Uncle/ 

"After  seeing  the  working  of  just  views  in  the 
establishment  of  the  uncle,  learning  piety  from 
the  Confessions  of  a  Beautiful  Soul,  and  religious 
beneficence  from  the  beautiful  life  of  Natalia, 
Wilhelm  is  deemed  worthy  of  admission  to  the 


1 88    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

society  of  the  Illuminati,  that  is,  those  who  have 
pierced  the  secret  of  life,  and  know  what  it  is 
to  be  and  to  do. 

"Here  he  finds  the  scroll  of  his  life  'drawn  with 
large,  sharp  strokes,'  that  is,  these  truly  wise  read 
his  character  for  him,  and  'mind  and  destiny  are 
but  two  names  for  one  idea.' 

"He  now  knows  enough  to  enter  on  the  Wan- 
derjahre. 

"Goethe  always  represents  the  highest  prin 
ciple  in  the  feminine  form.  Woman  is  the 
Minerva,  man  the  Mars.  As  in  the  Faust,  the 
purity  of  Gretchen,  resisting  the  demon  always, 
even  after  all  her  faults,  is  announced  to  have 
saved  her  soul  to  heaven;  and  in  the  second  part 
she  appears,  not  only  redeemed  herself,  but  by 
her  innocence  and  forgiving  tenderness  hallowed 
to  redeem  the  being  who  had  injured  her. 

"So  in  the  Meister,  these  women  hover  around 
the  narrative,  each  embodying  the  spirit  of  the 
scene.  The  frail  Philina,  graceful,  though  con 
temptible,  represents  the  degradation  incident  to 
an  attempt  at  leading  an  exclusively  poetic  life. 
Mignon,  gift  divine  as  ever  the  Muse  bestowed  on 
the  passionate  heart  of  man,  with  her  soft,  mysteri 
ous  inspiration,  her  pining  for  perpetual  youth, 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     189 

represents  the  high  desire  that  leads  to  this  mis 
take,  as  Aurelia,  the  desire  for  excitement; Teresa, 
practical  wisdom,  gentle  tranquillity,  which 
seem  most  desirable  after  the  Aurelia  glare.  Of 
the  beautiful  soul  and  Natalia  we  have  already 
spoken.  The  former  embodies  what  was  sug 
gested  to  Goethe  by  the  most  spiritual  person  he 
knew  in  youth — Mademoiselle  von  Klettenberg, 
over  whom,  as  he  said,  in  her  invalid  loneliness 
the  Holy  Ghost  brooded  like  a  dove. 

"Entering  on  the  Wanderjahre,  Wilhelm  be 
comes  acquainted  with  another  woman,  who  seems 
the  complement  of  all  the  former,  and  represents 
the  idea  which  is  to  guide  and  mould  him  in  the 
realization  of  all  the  past  experience. 

"This  person,  long  before  we  see  her,  is  an 
nounced  in  various  ways  as  a  ruling  power.  She 
is  the  last  hope  in  cases  of  difficulty,  and,  though 
an  invalid,  and  living  in  absolute  retirement,  is 
consulted  by  her  connections  and  acquaintances 
as  an  unerring  judge  in  all  their  affairs. 

"All  things  tend  toward  her  as  a  center;  she 
knows  all,  governs  all,  but  never  goes  forth  from 
herself. 

"Wilhelm  at  last  visits  her.  He  finds  her  infirm 
in  body,  but  equal  to  all  she  has  to  do.  Charity 


igo    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

and  counsel  to  men  who  need  her  are  her  business, 
astronomy  her  pleasure. 

"After  a  while,  Wilhelm  ascertains  from  the 
Astronomer,  her  companion,  what  he  had  before 
suspected,  that  she  really  belongs  to  the  solar 
system,  and  only  appears  on  earth  to  give  men  a 
feeling  of  the  planetary  harmony.  From  her 
youth  up,  says  the  Astronomer,  till  she  knew  me, 
though  all  recognized  in  her  an  unfolding  of  the 
highest  moral  and  intellectual  qualities,  she  was 
supposed  to  be  sick  at  her  times  of  clear  vision. 
When  her  thoughts  were  not  in  the  heavens,  she 
returned  and  acted  in  obedience  to  them  on  earth; 
she  was  then  said  to  be  well. 

"When  the  Astronomer  had  observed  her  long 
enough,  he  confirmed  her  inward  consciousness  of 
a  separate  existence  and  peculiar  union  with  the 
heavenly  bodies. 

"Her  picture  is  painted  with  many  delicate 
traits,  and  a  gradual  preparation  leads  the  reader 
to  acknowledge  the  truth;  but,  even  in  the  slight 
indication  here  given,  who  does  not  recognize  thee, 
divine  Philosophy,  sure  as  the  planetary  orbits, 
and  inexhaustible  as  the  fountain  of  light,  crown 
ing  the  faithful  seeker  at  last  with  the  privilege 
to  possess  his  own  soul. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     191 

"In  all  that  is  said  of  Macaria,  we  recognize 
that  no  thought  is  too  religious  for  the  mind  of 
Goethe.  It  was  indeed  so."  *  "His  two  highest 
female  characters,  Natalia  and  Macaria,  are 
representations  of  beneficence  and  heavenly 
wisdom."  2 

"Wilhelm,  at  the  school  of  the  Three  Rev 
erences,  thinks  out  what  can  be  done  for  man  in 
his  temporal  relations.  He  learns  to  practice 
moderation,  and  even  painful  renunciation.  The 
book  ends,  simply  indicating  what  the  course  of 
his  life  will  be,  by  making  him  perform  an  act 
of  kindness,  with  good  judgment  and  at  the  right 
moment. 

"Surely  the  simple  soberness  of  Goethe  should 
please  at  least  those  who  style  themselves,  pre 
eminently,  people  of  common  sense."  3 

Margaret  Fuller  is  correct  in  saying  that  in 
Werther  we  have  an  expression  of  a  part  of 
Goethe's  own  feelings,  an  epoch  in  his  develop 
ment.  Werther  expresses  truthfully  certain 
phases  through  which  the  great  poet  himself 
passed  in  his  growth  as  an  individual  and  a  genius. 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  38  ff. 

'Translation  of  Conversations  with  Goethe,  Preface,  p.  xiv. 

8  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  43. 


i92    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

"He  was  driven,"  Margaret  Fuller  writes  in 
describing  the  personal  experiences  and  disappoint 
ments  through  which  Goethe  passed  previous  to 
writing  this  work,  "from  the  severity  of  study  into 
the  world,  and  then  again  drawn  back,  many 
times  in  the  course  of  his  crowded  youth.  Both 
the  world  and  the  study  he  used  with  unceasing 
ardor.  .  .  .  He  was  very  social,  and  continually 
perturbed  by  his  social  sympathies.  He  was  de 
ficient  both  in  outward  self-possession  and  mental 
self-trust  [quoting  Goethe's  own  words]  'either 
too  volatile  or  too  infatuated'."  Herder's  and 
Merck's  influences,  she  said,  were  also  brought  to 
bear  on  him,  and  not  always  in  a  manner  to  cheer 
the  young  poet  or  give  him  confidence  in  his  own 
productions.  "His  youth,"  she  continues,  "was 
as  sympathetic  and  impetuous  as  any  on  record." 

"The  effect  of  all  this  outward  pressure  on 
the  poet  is  recorded  in  Werther — a  production 
that  he  afterwards  undervalued,  and  to  which  he 
even  felt  positive  aversion.  It  was  natural  that 
this  should  be.  In  the  calm  air  of  the  cultivated 
plain  he  attained,  the  remembrance  of  the  miasma 
of  sentimentality  was  odious  to  him.  Yet  senti 
mentality  is  but  sentiment  diseased,  which  to  be 
cured  must  be  patiently  observed  by  the  wise 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     193 

physician;  so  are  the  morbid  desire  and  despair 
of  Werther,  the  sickness  of  a  soul  aspiring  to 
a  purer,  freer  state,  but  mistaking  the  way."  * 
"Werther  .  .  .  must  die  because  life  was  not 
wide  enough  and  rich  enough  in  love  for  him."  2 
"The  best  or  the  worst  occasion  in  man's  life 
is  precisely  that  misused  in  Werther,  when  he 
longs  for  more  love,  more  freedom,  and  a  larger 
development  of  genius  than  the  limitations  of  this 
terrene  sphere  permit.  Sad  is  it  indeed  if,  persist 
ing  to  grasp  too  much  at  once,  he  lose  all,  as 
Werther  did.  He  must  accept  limitation,  must 
consent  to  do  his  work  in  time,  must  let  his  affec 
tions  be  baffled  by  the  barriers  of  convention.  Tan 
talus-like,  he  makes  this  world  a  Tartarus,  or, 
like  Hercules,  rises  in  fires  to  heaven,  according 
as  he  knows  how  to  interpret  his  lot.  But  he 
must  only  use,  not  adopt  it.  The  boundaries  of 
the  man  must  never  be  confounded  with  the  des 
tiny  of  the  soul.  If  he  does  not  decline  his  destiny, 
as  Werther  did,  it  is  his  honor  to  have  felt  its 
unfitness  for  his  eternal  scope.  He  was  born  for 
wings;  he  is  held  to  walk  in  leading-strings; 
nothing  lower  than  faith  must  make  him  resigned, 
and  only  in  hope  should  he  find  content — a  hope 

*  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  29  f. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  34. 


194    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

not  of  some  slight  improvement  in  his  own  condi 
tion  or  that  of  other  men,  but  a  hope  justified  by 
the  divine  justice,  which  is  bound  in  due  time  to 
satisfy  every  want  of  his  nature. 

"Schiller's  great  command  is,  'Keep  true  to  the 
dream  of  thy  youth'.  The  great  problem  is  how 
to  make  the  dream  real,  through  the  exercise  of 
the  waking  will. 

"This  was  not  exactly  the  problem  Goethe  tried 
to  solve.  To  do  somewhat,  became  too  impor 
tant.  ...  It  is  not  the  knowledge  of  what  might 
be,  but  what  is,  that  forms  us." 

"Werther  ...  is  characterized  by  a  fervid 
eloquence  of  Italian  glow,  which  betrays  a  part 
of  his  character  almost  lost  sight  of  in  the  quiet 
transparency  of  his  later  productions,  and  may 
give  us  some  idea  of  the  mental  conflicts  through 
which  he  passed  to  manhood. 

"The  acting  out  the  mystery  into  life,  the  calm 
ness  of  survey,  and  the  passionateness  of  feeling, 
above  all  the  ironical  baffling  at  the  end,  and  want 
of  point  to  a  tale  got  up  with  such  an  eye  to  effect 
as  he  goes  along,  mark  well  the  man  that  was  to 
be.  Even  so  did  he  demand  in  Werther;  even 
so  resolutely  open  the  door  in  the  first  part  of 
Faust;  even  so  seem  to  play  with  himself  and 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     195 

his  contemporaries  in  the  second  part  of  Faust  and 
Wilhelm  Meister. 

"Yet  was  he  deeply  earnest  in  his  play,  not 
for  men,  but  for  himself.  To  himself  as  a  part 
of  nature  it  was  important  to  grow,  to  lift  his 
head  to  the  light.  In  nature  he  had  all  confidence ; 
for  man,  as  a  part  of  nature,  infinite  hope;  but  in 
him  as  an  individual  will,  seemingly,  not  much 
trust  at  the  earliest  age."  1 

So  deeply  interested  was  Margaret  Fuller  in 
Goethe's  Tasso  that  she  translated  it  into  English 
verse.  "In  Tasso,"  she  writes,  "Goethe  has  de 
scribed  the  position  of  the  poetical  mind  in  its 
prose  relations."  It  is,,  she  believes,  another 
confession  or  expression  of  what  Goethe,  as  a 
poet,  felt- himself.2 

"Goethe  had  not  from  nature  that  character  of 
self-reliance  and  self-control  in  which  he  so  long 
appeared  to  the  world.  It  was  wholly  acquired, 
and  so  highly  valued  because  he  was  conscious 
of  the  opposite  tendency.  He  was  by  nature  as 
impetuous,  though  not  as  tender,  as  Tasso,  and 
the  disadvantage  at  which  this  constantly  placed 
him  was  keenly  felt  by  a  mind  made  to  appreciate 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  29  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  z8. 


196    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

the  subtlest  harmonies  in  all  relations.  Therefore 
was  it  that  when  he  at  last  cast  anchor,  he  was  so 
reluctant  again  to  trust  himself  to  wave  and 
breeze."  1 

Of  the  harrowing  feelings  that  must  rend  a 
sympathetic  and  tender  poetic  heart,  like  that  of 
Tasso,  Margaret  Fuller  says:  "Let  me  add  as 
the  best  criticism,  for  the  hearing  of  those  that 
will  hear,  one  of  those  matchless  scenes  in  which 
Goethe  represents  the  sudden  blazes  of  eloquence, 
the  fitful  shadings  of  mood,  and  the  exquisite 
sensitiveness  to  all  influences  that  made  the  weak 
ness  and  the  power  of  Tasso.  It  also  presents 
the  relation  that  probably  existed  between  the 
princess  and  the  poet,  with  more  truth  than  their 
confessors  could  discern  it,  for  the  poet  is  the  only 
priest  in  the  secrets  of  the  heart." 

Margaret  Fuller,  to  give  us  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  beauty  and  feeling  of  the  play,  or  rather  to 
let  the  play  speak  for  itself  in  these  matters,  quotes, 
in  her  article  on  Goethe  in  the  Dial,  two  scenes 
(Act  II,  Scenes  i  and  2)  from  her  own  trans 
lation  of  Tasso.  In  these  two  scenes  Tasso  gives 
vent  to  the  deepest  poetic  feelings  that  arise  from 
the  conflicts  between  his  idealistic,  poetic  inner 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  28  f.    'Dial,  January,  1842. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     197 

nature,  and  the  unfeeling,  realistic  world  outside ; 
and  finally,  based  upon  the  encouraging  words  of 
the  Princess,  he  ends  in  the  second  scene  with  the 
most  glowing  hopes  and  ecstacy  of  soul,  a  com 
plete  abandonment  to  his  poetic  feelings. 

The  sufferings  of  Tasso  always  appealed  deeply 
to  Margaret  Fuller,  and  she  writes:  "Beethoven! 
Tasso  !  It  is  well  to  think  of  you !  What  suffer 
ings  from  baseness,  from  coldness!  How  rare 
and  momentary  were  the  flashes  of  joy,  of  confi 
dence  and  tenderness,  in  these  noblest  lives !  Yet 
could  not  their  genius  be  repressed.  The  Eternal 
Justice  lives.  O  Father,  teach  the  spirit  the 
meaning  of  sorrow,  and  light  up  the  generous 
fires  of  love  and  hope  and  faith."  * 

It  is  "a  novelty,"  Margaret  Fuller  believes, 
uto  see  the  mind  of  a  poet  analysed  and  portrayed 
by  another,  who,  however,  shared  the  inspiration 
only  of  his  subject,  saved  from  his  weakness  by 
that  superb  balance  of  character  in  which  Goethe 
surpasses  even  Milton."  This  "very  celebrated 
production  of  the  first  German  writer"  with  its 
"beautiful  finish  of  style"  she  calls  a  "many-toned 
lyre  on  which  the  poet  originally  melodized  his 
inspired  conceptions."  "The  central  situation  of 

1  Memoirs,  II.  105. 


i98     MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Tasso,"  she  says,  in  conclusion,  is  "the  manner 
in  which  his  companions  draw  him  out,  and  are 
in  turn  drawn  out  by  him,  the  mingled  generosity 
and  worldliness  of  the  Realist  Antonio,  the  mix 
ture  of  taste,  feeling,  and  unconscious  selfishness 
in  Alphonso,  the  more  delicate,  but  not  less  de 
cided  painting  of  the  two  Leonoras,  the  gradual 
but  irresistible  force  by  which  the  catastrophe 
is  drawn  down  upon  us,  concur  to  make  this  drama 
a  model  of  Art,  that  art  which  Goethe  worshipped 
ever  after  he  had  exhaled  his  mental  boyhood 
in  Werther."  1 

Of  Egmont  and  Goetz  von  Berlichingen  Mar 
garet  Fuller  also  speaks,  calling  the  former  "the 
generous  free  liver,"  2  and  finding  in  the  latter 
a  striking  and  beautiful  picture  of  ideal  home 
relations  between  husband  and  wife,  "that  com 
munity  of  inward  life,  that  perfect  esteem,"  which 
enables  Goetz  von  Berlichingen  to  say  *  'Whom 
God  loves,  to  him  gives  He  such  a  wife'."  3 

The  Elective  Affinities  and  Iphigenie  were  to 
Margaret  Fuller  the  "two  surpassingly  beautiful 
works"  of  Goethe.  For  these  she  expresses  the 

1  Art,  Literature  and  the  Drama,  pp.  355  f. 

2  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  60. 

3  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  80. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     199 

greatest  praise  and  most  glowing  admiration.  In 
them  "is  shown  most  distinctly,"  she  says,  "the 
clear  perception  which  was  in  Goethe's  better  na 
ture,  of  the  beauty  of  that  steadfastness,  of  that 
singleness  and  simple  melody  of  soul,  which  he 
too  much  sacrificed  to  become  'the  many-sided 
One'." 

What  a  storm  of  bitter  criticism  and  protest 
was  hurled  against  the  first  of  these  works  by 
those  who  held  to  Puritan  traditions,  and  conse 
quently  rejected  everything  that  in  any  way  per 
tained  to  the  sensuous  nature,  is  seen  from  Mar 
garet  Fuller's  own  criticism  of  these  works.  She 
was  practically  alone  in  her  large  circle  in  seeing 
the  true  meaning  and  higher  beauty  of  this  charm 
ing  work.  How  great  must  have  been  her  influ 
ence  in  correcting  the  mistaken  idea  current 
concerning  this  work,  and  in  saving  it  from  the 
bad  reputation  that  had  been  given  it.  In  her 
enthusiasm  she  justly  called  it  "Moral"  and 
"Religious  even  to  piety  in  its  spirit." 

"Not  Werther,"  she  says,  "not  the  Nouvelle 
Heloise,  have  been  assailed  with  such  a  storm  of 
indignation  as  the  first-named  of  these  works,  on 
the  score  of  gross  immorality. 

"The  reason  probably  is  the  subject;  any  discus- 


200    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

sion  of  the  validity  of  the  marriage  vow  making 
society  tremble  to  its  foundation;  and,  secondly, 
the  cold  manner  in  which  it  is  done.  All  that  is 
in  the  book  would  be  bearable  to  most  minds  if 
the  writer  had  had  less  the  air  of  a  spectator,  and 
had  larded  his  work  here  and  there  with  ejacu 
lations  of  horror  and  surprise. 

"These  declarations  of  sentiment  on  the  part 
of  the  author  seem  to  be  required  by  the  majority 
of  readers,  in  order  to  an  interpretation  of  his 
purpose,  as  sixthly,  seventhly,  and  eighthly  were, 
in  an  old  fashioned  sermon,  to  rouse  the  audience 
to  a  perception  of  the  method  made  use  of  by  the 
preacher. 

"But  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  those 
who  need  not  such  helps  to  their  discriminating 
faculties,  but  read  a  work  so  thoroughly  as  to  ap 
prehend  its  whole  scope  and  tendency,  rather  than 
hear  what  the  author  says  it  means,  will  regard 
the  Elective  Affinities  as  a  work  especially  what 
is  called  moral  in  its  outward  effect,  and  religious 
even  to  piety  in  its  spirit.  The  mental  aberrations 
of  the  consorts  from  their  plighted  faith,  though 
in  one  case  never  indulged,  and  though  in  the 
other  no  veil  of  sophistry  is  cast  over  the  weakness 
of  passion,  but  all  that  is  felt  expressed  with  the 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     201 

openness  of  one  who  desires  to  legitimate  what 
he  feels,  are  punished  by  terrible  griefs  and  a 
fatal  catastrophe.  Ottilia,  that  being  of  exquisite 
purity,  with  intellect  and  character  so  harmonized 
in  feminine  beauty,  as  they  never  before  were 
found  in  any  portrait  of  woman  painted  by  the 
hand  of  man,  perishes,  on  finding  she  has  been 
breathed  on  by  unhallowed  passion,  and  led  to 
err  even  by  her  ignorant  wishes  against  what  is 
held  sacred."  *  "The  virgin  Ottilia  .  .  .  immo 
lates  herself  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  spotting 
her  thoughts  with  passion." 

"It  pains  me,"  she  says  in  a  letter,  "to  part  with 
Ottilia.  I  wish  we  could  learn  books,  as  we  do 
pieces  of  music,  and  repeat  them,  in  the  author's 
order,  when  taking  a  solitary  walk.  But,  now, 
if  I  set  out  with  an  Ottilia,  this  wicked  fairy 
association  conjures  up  such  crowds  of  less  lovely 
companions,  that  I  often  cease  to  feel  the  influence 
of  the  elect  one."  3 

"I  am  thinking,"  she  writes  again,  to  a  minis 
terial  friend,  "how  I  omitted  to  talk  a  volume  to 
you  about  the  'Elective  Affinities.'  Now  I  shall 
never  say  half  of  it,  for  which  I,  on  my  own  ac- 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  48  f. 
~  Conversations  with   Goethe,  Introd.,  p.  xiv. 
3  Memoirs,  I.  117. 


202    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

count,  am  sorry.  ...  I  am  now  going  to  dream 
of  your  sermon,  and  of  Ottilia's  china-asters. "  * 

"The  only  personage  whom  we  do  not  pity 
is  Edward,  for  he  is  the  only  one  who  stifles  the 
voice  of  conscience. 

"There  is  indeed  a  sadness,  as  of  an  irresistible 
fatality,  brooding  over  the  whole.  It  seems  as 
if  only  a  ray  of  angelic  truth  could  have  enabled 
these  men  to  walk  wisely  in  this  twilight,  at  first 
so  soft  and  alluring,  then  deepening  into  blind 
horror. 

"But  if  no  such  ray  came  to  prevent  their 
earthly  errors,  it  seems  to  point  heavenward  in  the 
saintly  sweetness-  of  Ottilia.  Her  nature,  too 
fair  for  vice,  too  finely  wrought  even  for  error, 
comes  lonely,  intense,  and  pale,  like  the  evening 
star  on  the  cold,  wintry  night.  It  tells  of  other 
worlds,  where  the  meaning  of  such  strange  pas 
sages  as  this  must  be  read  to  those  faithful  and 
pure  like  her,  victims  perishing  in  the  green  gar 
lands  of  a  spotless  youth  to  atone  for  the  unworthi- 
ness  of  others. 

"An  unspeakable  pathos  is  felt  from  the  minut 
est  trait  of  this  character,  and  deepens  with  every 
new  study  of  it.  Not  even  in  Shakespeare  have 

1  Memoirs,  I.   118. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     203 

I  so  felt  the  organizing  power  of  genius.  Through 
dead  words  I  find  the  least  gestures  of  this  person, 
stamping  themselves  on  my  memory,  betraying 
to  the  heart  the  secret  of  her  life,  which  she  her 
self,  like  all  these  divine  beings,  knew  not.  I  feel 
myself  familiarized  with  all  beings  of  her  order. 
I  see  not  only  what  she  was,  but  what  she  might 
have  been,  and  live  with  her  in  yet  untrodden 
realms. 

"Here  is  the  glorious  privilege  of  a  form  known 
only  in  the  world  of  genius.  There  is  on  it  no 
stain  of  usage  or  calculation  to  dull  our  sense 
of  its  immeasurable  life.  What  in  our  daily  walk, 
mid  common  faces  and  common  places,  fleets 
across  us  at  moments  from  glances  of  the  eye,  or 
tones  of  the  voice,  is  felt  from  the  whole  being 
of  one  of  these  children  of  genius. 

"This  precious  gem  is  set  in  a  ring  complete  in 
its  enamel.  I  cannot  hope  to  express  my  sense 
of  the  beauty  of  this  book  as  a  work  of  art.  1 
would  not  attempt  it  if  I  had  elsewhere  met  any 
testimony  to  the  same.  The  perfect  picture, 
always  before  the  mind,  of  the  chateau,  the  moss 
hut,  the  park,  the  garden,  the  lake,  with  its  boat 
and  the  landing  beneath  the  platan  trees;  the 
gradual  manner  in  which  both  localities  and  per- 


204    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

sons  grow  upon  us,  more  living  than  life,  inasmuch 
as  we  are,  unconsciously,  kept  at  our  best  tem 
perature  by  the  atmosphere  of  genius,  and  thereby 
more  delicate  in  our  perceptions  than  amid  our 
customary  fogs;  the  gentle  unfolding  of  the  central 
thought,  as  a  flower  in  the  morning  sun;  then 
the  conclusion,  rising  like  a  cloud,  first  soft  and 
white,  but  darkening  as  it  comes,  till  with  a  sudden 
wind  it  bursts  above  our  heads;  the  ease  with 
which  we  everywhere  find  points  of  view  all 
different,  yet  all  bearing  on  the  same  circle,  for 
though  we  feel  every  hour  new  worlds,  still  before 
our  eye  lie  the  same  objects,  new,  yet  the  same 
unchangeable,  yet  always  changing  their  aspects 
as  we  proceed,  till  at  last  we  find  we  ourselves 
have  transferred  the  circle,  and  know  all  we  over 
looked  at  first, — these  things  are  worthy  of  our 
highest  admiration. 

"For  myself,  I  never  felt  so  completely  that 
very  thing  which  genius  should  always  make  us 
feel — that  I  was  in  its  circle,  and  could  not  get 
out  till  its  spell  was  done,  and  its  last  spirit  per 
mitted  to  depart.  I  was  not  carried  away, 
instructed,  delighted  more  than  by  other  works, 
but  I  was  there,  living  there,  whether  as  the  platan 
tree,  or  the  architect,  or  any  other  observing  part 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     205 

of  the  scene.  The  personages  live  too  intensely 
to  let  us  live  in  them;  they  draw  around  them 
selves  circles  within  the  circle ;  we  can  only  see 
them  close,  not  be  themselves. 

"Others,  it  would  seem,  on  closing  the  book, 
exclaim,  'What  an  immoral  book!'  I  well  re 
member  my  own  thought,  'It  is  a  work  of  art!' 
At  last  I  understood  that  world  within  a  world, 
that  ripest  fruit  of  human  nature,  which  is  called 
art.  With  each  perusal  of  the  book  my  surprise 
and  delight  at  this  wonderful  fulfillment  of 
design  grew."  * 

Iphigenie,  Margaret  Fuller  calls,  "a  work 
beyond  the  possibility  of  negation;  a  work  where 
a  religious  meaning  not  only  pierces  but  enfolds 
the  whole;  a  work  as  admirable  in  art,  still  higher 
in  significance,  more  single  in  expression  2  [than 
the  Elective  Affinities]" 

Since  this  drama  was  not  well  known  in 
America,  Margaret  Fuller  gives  an  outline  of  it 
and  translates  some  of  the  most  beautiful  passages 
into  English,  yet  how  far  short  any  outline  or 
criticism  falls  in  giving  the  reader  an  idea  of  the 
beauties  of  this  admirable  play,  Margaret  Fuller 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  49  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  51. 


2o6    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

herself  felt.    "These  are  the  words  and  thoughts, 
she  says,  "but  how  give  an  idea  of  the  sweet  sim 
plicity  of   expression  in  the  original,  where  every 
word  has   the   grace   and  softness   of  a   flower 
petal?"1 

Iphigenie  tells  the  story  of  her  race  "in  a 
way  that  makes  us  feel  as  if  that  most  famous 
tragedy  had  never  before  found  a  voice,  so  simple, 
so  fresh  in  its  naivete  is  the  recital."  The  first 
two  acts  contain  "scenes  of  the  most  delicate 
workmanship.  .  .  .  between  the  light-hearted 
Pylades,  full  of  worldly  resource  and  ready  ten 
derness,  and  the  suffering  Orestes,  of  far  nobler, 
indeed  heroic  nature,  but  less  fit  for  the  day  and 
more  for  the  ages  .  .  .  The  characters  of  both 
are  brought  out  with  great  skill,  and  the  nature 
of  the  bond  between  'the  butterfly  and  the  dark 
flower,'  distinctly  shown  in  few  words  ... 

"The  scenes  go  on  more  and  more  full  of 
breathing  beauty.  The  lovely  joy  of  Iphigenie, 
the  meditative  softness  with  which  the  religiously 
educated  mind  perpetually  draws  the  inference 
from  the  most  agitating  events,  impress  us  more 
and  more.  At  last  the  hour  of  trial  comes  .  .  , 

"But,    O,    the    step    before    all    this    can    be 

''Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  p.  53. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     207 

obtained; — to  deceive  Thoas,  a  savage  and  a 
tyrant  indeed,  but  long  her  protector, — in  his 
barbarous  fashion,  her  benefactor!  How  can 
she  buy  life,  happiness,  or  even  the  safety  of  those 
dear  ones  at  such  a  price?  .  .  . 

uThen  follows  the  sublime  song  of  the  Parcae, 
well  known  through  translations.  But  Iphigenie 
is  not  a  victim  of  fate,  for  she  listens  steadfastly 
to  the  god  in  her  breast.  Her  lips  are  incapable 
of  subterfuge.  She  obeys  her  own  heart,  tells 
all  to  the  king,  calls  up  his  better  nature,  wins, 
hallows,  and  purifies  all  around  her,  till  the  heaven- 
prepared  way  is  cleared  by  the  obedient  child 
of  heaven,  and  the  great  trespass  of  Tantalus 
cancelled  by  a  woman's  reliance  on  the  voice  of 
her  innocent  soul."  1  "Iphigenie,  by  her  stead 
fast  truth,  hallows  all  about  her,  and  disarms 
the  powers  of  hell."  2 

But  most  powerfully  and  charmingly  inter 
preted  are  Goethe's  feminine  characters  in 
Margaret  Fuller's  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen 
tury,  which  contains  her  masterly  argument  and 
plea  for  a  higher,  freer  womanhood.  These 
charming  portraits  are  left,  for  the  most  part,  in 

1  Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  53  ff. 

2  Preface  to  Conversations  'with  Goethe,  p.  xiv. 


208     MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

just  the  order  and  setting  in  which  they  stand  in 
the  work  mentioned  above;  for  thus  they  appear 
in  the  best  light,  and  exactly  as  Margaret  Fuller 
presented  them  to  her  readers. 

"Goethe,  proceeding  on  his  own  track,'*  she 
writes,  "elevating  the  human  being,  in  the  most 
imperfect  states  of  society,  by  continual  efforts 
at  self-culture,  takes  as  good  care  of  women  as 
of  men.  His  mother,  the  bold,  gay  Frau  Aja, 
with  such  playful  freedom  of  nature;  the  wise 
and  gentle  maiden,  known  in  his  youth,  over  whose 
sickly  solitude  'the  Holy  Ghost  brooded  as  a 
dove;'  his  sister,  the  intellectual  woman  par 
excellence  "  all  lent  him  traits  of  character  for 
his  ideals  of  womanhood.  The  same,  she  thought, 
was  true  of  Goethe's  patroness.  "In  this  country 
[America],"  she  writes,  "is  venerated,  wherever 
seen,  the  character  which  Goethe  spoke  of  as  an 
Ideal,  which  he  saw  actualized  in  his  friend  and 
patroness,  the  Grand  Duchess  Amalia:  'The  ex 
cellent  woman  is  she,  who,  if  the  husband  dies, 
can  be  father  to  the  children.'  And  this  if  read 
aright,  tells  a  great  deal."  *  "Lili,"  Margaret 
Fuller  says,  "combined  the  character  of  the 
woman  of  the  world  with  the  lyrical  sweetness 

1  Woman    in   the    Nineteenth    Century,   p.    no. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     209 

of  the  shepherdess,  on  whose  chaste  and  noble 
breast  flowers  and  gems  were  equally  at  home. 
All  these  had  supplied  abundant  suggestions 
to  his  [Goethe's]  mind,  as  to  the  wants  and  pos 
sible  excellencies  of  Woman.  And  from  his 
poetic  soul  grew  up  forms  new  and  more  admir 
able  than  life  has  yet  produced,  for  whom  his 
clear  eye  marked  out  paths  in  the  future. 

"In  Faust  Margaret  represents  the  redeeming 
power,  which,  at  present  upholds  woman,  while 
waiting  for  a  better  day.  The  lovely  little  girl, 
pure  in  instinct,  ignorant  in  mind,  is  misled  and 
profaned  by  man  abusing  her  confidence.  To  the 
Mater  Dolorosa  she  appeals  for  aid.  It  is  given 
to  the  soul,  if  not  against  outward  sorrow;  and 
the  maiden,  enlightened  by  her  sufferings,  refusing 
to  receive  temporal  salvation  by  the  aid  of  an 
evil  power,  obtains  the  eternal  in  its  stead. 

"In  the  second  part,  the  intellectual  man,  after 
all  his  manifold  strivings,  owes  to  the  interposition 
of  her  whom  he  had  betrayed,  his  salvation.  She 
intercedes,  this  time,  herself  a  glorified  spirit,  with 
the  Mater  Gloriosa.  Leonora,  too,  is  Woman, 
as  we  see  her  now,  pure,  thoughtful,  refined  by 
much  acquaintance  with  grief."  * 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  pp.  125  f. 


210    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

"Iphigenie  he  speaks  of  in  his  journals  as  his 
'daughter,'  and  she  is  the  daughter  whom  a  man 
will  wish,  even  if  he  has  chosen  his  wife  from 
very  mean  motives.  She  is  the  virgin,  steadfast 
soul,  to  whom  falsehood  is  more  dreadful  than 
any  other  death."  Elsewhere  Iphigenie  is  praised 
as  "a  tender  virgin,  ennobled  and  strengthened 
by  sentiment  more  than  intellect;  what  they  call 
a  woman  par  excellence."  1 

"As  Wilhelm  [MeisterJ  advances  into  the 
upward  path,  he  becomes  acquainted  with  better 
forms  of  Woman,  by  knowing  how  to  seek,  and 
how  to  prize  them  when  found.  For  the  weak 
and  immature  man  will  often  admire  a  superior 
woman,  but  he  will  not  be  able  to  abide  by  a 
feeling  which  is  too  severe  a  tax  on  his  habitual 
existence.  But,  with  Wilhelm,  the  gradation  is 
natural,  and  expresses  ascent  in  the  scale  of  being. 
At  first,  he  finds  charm  in  Mariana  and  Philina, 
very  common  forms  of  feminine  character,  not 
without  redeeming  traits,  no  less  than  charms, 
but  without  wisdom  or  purity.  Soon  he  is  attended 
by  Mignon,  the  finest  expression  ever  yet  given 
to  what  I  have  called  the  lyrical  element  in 
Woman.  She  is  a  child,  but  too  full  grown  for 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  422. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     211 

this  man;  he  loves,  but  cannot  follow  her;  yet 
is  the  association  not  without  an  enduring  influ 
ence.  Poesy  has  been  domesticated  in  his  life; 
and,  though  he  strives  to  bind  down  her  heaven 
ward  impulse,  as  art  or  apothegm,  these  are  only 
the  tents,  beneath  which  he  may  sojourn  for  a 
while,  but  which  may  be  easily  struck,  and  carried 
on  limitless  wanderings."  1 

Margaret  Fuller  looked  upon  Mignon  as  a  type 
of  "the  electrical,  inspired,  lyrical  nature,"  the 
"prophetic  form"  of  woman  "expressive  of  the 
longing  for  a  state  of  perfect  freedom,  pure  love;" 
a  representative  of  that  type  of  beings,  half 
angelic,  whose  affections  are  so  pure  that  they  are 
capable  of  a  friendship  where  selfishness  and  sex 
play  no  part  whatever;  beings  characterized  by 
the  song  which  Mignon  sings  shortly  before  her 
death,  and  which  Margaret  quotes  in  this  con 
nection. 

"Jene  himmlischen  Gestalten 
Sie  fragen  nicht  nach  Mann  und  Weib, 
Und  keine  Kleider,  keine  Falten 
Umgeben  den  verklarten  Leib."* 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  127. 
*  Yonder  heavenly  forms 

They  ask  not  whether  one  be  man  or  woman, 

And  no  garments,  no  folds 

Enclose  the  transfigured  body. 


212    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

"She  could  not  remain  here,  but  was  translated 
to  another  air,"  Margaret  Fuller  continues. 
"And  it  may  be  that  the  air  of  this  earth  will 
never  be  so  tempered  that  such  can  bear  it  long. 
But,  while  they  stay  they  must  bear  testimony  to 
the  truth  they  are  constituted  to  demand.  That 
an  era  approaches  which  shall  approximate  nearer 
to  such  a  temper  than  any  has  yet  done,  there 
are  many  tokens/'  * 

"Advancing  into  the  region  of  thought,  he 
[Wilhelm  Meister]  encounters  a  wise  philan 
thropy  in  Natalia  (instructed,  let  us  observe,  by 
an  uncle)  ;  practical  judgment  and  the  outward 
economy  of  life  in  Theresa;  pure  devotion  in  the 
Fair  Saint. 

"Further,  and  last,  he  comes  to  the  house  of 
Macaria,  the  soul  of  a  star;  that  is,  a  pure  and 
perfected  intelligence  embodied  in  feminine  form, 
and  the  center  of  a  world  whose  members  revolve 
harmoniously  around  her.  She  instructs  him  in 
the  archives  of  a  rich  human  history,  and  intro 
duces  him  to  the  contemplation  of  the  heavens. 

"From  the  hours  passed  by  the  side  of  Mariana 
to  these  with  Macaria,  is  a  wide  distance  for 
human  feet  to  traverse.  Nor  has  Wilhelm 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century*  p.  64. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     213 

traveled  so  far,  seen  and  suffered  so  much,  in 
vain.  He  now  begins  to  study  how  he  may  aid 
the  next  generation;  he  sees  objects  in  harmonious 
arrangement,  and  from  his  observations  deduces 
precepts  by  which  to  guide  his  course  as  a  teacher 
and  a  master,  'help-full,  comfort-full'  .  .  . 

"In  the  Macaria,  bound  with  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  fixed  revolutions,  the  center  of  all  rela 
tions,  herself  unrelated,  he  expresses  the  Minerva 
side  of  feminine  nature.  It  was  not  by  chance 
that  Goethe  gave  her  this  name.  Macaria,  the 
daughter  of  Hercules,  who  offered  herself  as  a 
victim  for  the  good  of  her  country,  was  canonized 
by  the  Greeks,  and  worshipped  as  the  Goddess 
of  true  Felicity.  Goethe  has  embodied  this 
Felicity  as  the  serenity  that  arises  from  Wisdom, 
a  wisdom  such  as  the  Jewish  wise  man  venerated, 
alike  instructed  in  the  designs  of  heaven,  and  the 
methods  necessary  to  carry  them  into  effect  upon 
earth  .  .  . 

"All  these  women,  though  we  see  them  in 
relations,  we  can  think  of  as  unrelated.  They 
all  are  very  individual,  yet  seem  nowhere  re 
strained.  They  satisfy  for  the  present,  yet  arouse 
an  infinite  expectation. 

"The  economist  Theresa,  the  benevolent  Na- 


214    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

talia,  the  Fair  Saint,  have  chosen  a  path,  but  their 
thoughts  are  not  narrowed  to  it.  The  functions 
of  life  to  them  are  not  ends,  but  suggestions. 

"Thus,  to  them,  all  things  are  important, 
because  none  is  necessary.  Their  different  char 
acters  have  fair  play,  and  each  is  beautiful  in  its 
minute  indications,  for  nothing  is  enforced  or 
conventional;  but  everything,  however  slight, 
grows  from  the  essential  life  of  the  being. 

"Mignon  and  Theresa  wear  male  attire  when 
they  like,  and  it  is  graceful  for  them  to  do  so, 
while  Macaria  is  confined  to  her  arm-chair  behind 
the  green  curtain,  and  the  Fair  Saint  could  not 
bear  a  speck  of  dust  on  her  robe. 

"All  things  are  in  their  places  in  this  little 
world,  because  all  is  natural  and  free,  just  as 
'there  is  room  for  everything  out  of  doors.'  Yet 
all  is  rounded  in  by  natural  harmony,  which  will 
always  arise  where  Truth  and  Love  are  sought 
in  the  light  of  Freedom."  1 

The  very  fact  that  Margaret  Fuller  takes  over 
from  Goethe,  in  one  of  her  most  important  and 
influential  books,  this  succession  of  female  char 
acters  as  representatives  of  the  highest  ideals  of 
womanhood,  ideals  which  she  wished  her  Ameri- 

1  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  pp.  127  ff. 


CRITICISM  OF  GOETHE'S  WORKS     215 

can  sisters  to  make  real  in  our  country, — all  this 
is  proof  that  she  looked  upon  Goethe,  not  merely 
as  a  great  poet-artist,  who  entertains  and  delights 
us,  but  as  an  ethical  leader,  whose  doctrines  of 
life  and  whose  ideal  types  of  character, — types 
created  by  the  poet  himself — are  to  be  lived  out 
in  every  day  life.  She  was  probably  the  first 
American-born  person  who  saw  the  great  world- 
poet  in  this  light  and  thus  understood  his  great 
mission  to  humanity. 

Of  Goethe's  shorter  works  Margaret  Fuller 
translates  the  poem  Entsagung,  and  expresses 
through  it  her  own  renunciation.  But  especially 
did  she  admire  Goethe's  fragment  Prometheus. 
She  mentions  this  poem  in  several  of  her  works, 
and  translated  it  in  1838  for  a  friend.  Pro 
metheus,  she  thought,  inspired  us,  more  than 
anything  else,  with  the  courage  of  a  truly  liberated 
soul,  and  with  an  independence  and  a  passionate 
desire  to  be  a  benefit  to  all  humanity,1  even  at  the 
cost  of  suffering  and  sacrifice, — inspired  us,  in  fact, 
with  traits  just  such  as  this  ancient  hero,  so  well 
described  by  Goethe,  had  before  us.  It  also 
expressed,  she  says,  an  idea  of  how  man  might 
become  a  creator,  like  God. 

1  Memoirs,  I.  p.  310. 


216    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Margaret  Fuller's  feeling  with  reference  to 
Goethe's  poetry  has  already  been  mentioned.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  Goethe's  mind  had  embraced 
the  universe.  "I  am  enchanted,"  she  says,  "while 
I  read.  He  comprehends  every  feeling  I  have 
ever  had  so  perfectly,  expresses  it  so  beautifully." 

Much  of  the  enthusiasm  she  felt  for  Goethe, 
and  German  in  general,  she  undoubtedly  imparted 
to  the  members  of  her  circle  of  distinguished 
friends.  They  must  have  accepted  to  a  large 
extent  her  interpretations;  for  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  great  change  in  sentiment  among  them 
toward  Goethe,  in  fact,  toward  all  German 
writers. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE 

One  of  the  results  of  Margaret  Fuller's  study 
of  German  was  the  translation  of  German  works 
into  English.  These  are,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  short  poems,  either  from  Goethe's  works 
directly,  or  from  works  that  bear  directly  or 
indirectly  on  some  phase  of  his  life,  and  were, 
no  doubt,  inspired  by  her  admiration  for  the  great 

1  Memoirs,  I.  119. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE       217 

German  poet.  Her  first  translation  in  point  of 
time  is  Goethe's  Tasso.  This  work  she  must  have 
translated  and  given  its  present  metrical  form  as 
early  as  1834,  only  two  years  after  she  began 
her  study  of  German;  for  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  F. 
H.  Hedge,  Nov.  30,  1834,  she  expresses  her 
intention  to  print  it.  She  failed,  however,  to  find 
a  publisher,  and  it  did  not  appear  in  print  until 
after  her  death  [in  1859],  when  her  brother, 
Arthur  B.  Fuller,  included  it  in  a  volume  of  her 
works,  entitled  Art,  Literature  and  the  Drama, 
with  a  number  of  other  papers  by  Margaret 
Fuller,  previously  published  [1846]  under  the 
title  Papers  on  Literature  and  Art. 

Significant  it  is  that  this  drama  appealed  to 
Margaret  Fuller  so  strongly.  It  is  proof  of  the 
extraordinary  charm  that  Tasso,  this  "gem,"  this 
"perfect  work  of  art,"  as  she  calls  it,  must  have 
had  for  her. 

The  quality  of  the  translation  as  such  could  no 
doubt  be  improved  here  and  there.  The  original 
text  is  not  always  followed  closely  in  the  trans 
lation,  and  the  lines  are  often  lengthened  or 
broken.  The  meter  also  would  bear  improvement. 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  these  faults  are  in  some 
respects  more  than  balanced  by  positive  merits. 


2i8     MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

One  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  in  translating, 
poetry  especially,  is  to  find  idioms  in  the  language 
into  which  a  work  is  translated,  that  correspond 
exactly  to  those  of  the  original  and  that  convey 
the  same  meaning  and  force.  Margaret  Fuller 
has  been  remarkably  successful  in  this  respect. 
Like  Coleridge,  in  his  translations,  she  "deemed 
the  rendering  of  the  spirit,  on  the  whole,  more 
desirable  than  that  of  the  letter."  *  Her  transla 
tion  is  expressed  in  good  idiomatic  English  and 
has  all  the  qualities  of  an  original  composition. 
"The  exact  transmission  of  thought",  she  writes, 
"seems  to  me  the  one  important  thing  in  a  trans 
lation;  if  grace  and  purity  of  style  come  of  them 
selves,  it  is  so  much  gained.  In  translating,  I 
throw  myself,  as  entirely  as>  possible,  into  the 
mood  of  the  writer,  and  make  use  of  such  expres 
sions  as  would  come  naturally,  if  reading  the  work 
aloud  in  English.  The  style  thus  formed  is  at 
least  a  transcript  of  tHe  feelings  excited  by  the 
original."  2  For  the  reader,  therefore,  it  has  a 
native  flavor  and  a  beauty  and  charm  far  superior 
to  many  translations  from  foreign  authors  in 
which  the  translator  stuck  closer  to  the  text  of 

1  Art,   Literature   and   the  Drama,    p.    355. 

2  Correspondence    of    Frdulein     Giinderode    and    Bettlne    von 
Arnim,  Preface,  p.  vi. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      219 

the  original,  and  was  compelled,  for  that  reason, 
to  sacrifice  beauty  of  expression  and  purity  of 
idiom. 

Margaret  Fuller's  preface  to  her  translation  of 
Tasso  is  interesting.  In  it  she  reveals  the  fine  per 
ception  and  feeling  for  language  which  she  had, 
and  expresses  for  Goethe,  and  the  qualities  of  the 
drama  which  she  here  translated,  the  most  enthusi 
astic  praise. 

"There  are  difficulties  attending  the  translation 
of  German  works  into  English  which  might  baffle 
one  much  more  skilful  in  the  use  of  the  latter  than 
myself.  A  great  variety  of  compound  words 
enables  the  German  writer  to  give  a  degree  of 
precision  and  delicacy  of  shading  to  his  expres 
sions  nearly  impracticable  with  the  terse,  the 
dignified,  but  by  no  means  flexible  English  idiom. 
The  rapid  growth  of  German  literature,  the  con 
currence  of  so  many  master  spirits,  all  at  once 
fashioning  the  language  into  a  medium  for  the 
communication  of  their  thoughts,  has  brought  it 
to  a  perfection  which  must  gradually  be  impaired, 
as  inferior  minds  mould  and  adapt  it  to  their  less 
noble  uses."  The  German,  she  says,  has  a  "con 
densed  power  of  expression"  which  the  English 
has  lost.  "It  is  more  difficult,"  too,  she  finds,  "to 


220    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

polish  a  translation  than  an  original  work,  since 
we  are  denied  the  liberty  of  retrenching  or  adding 
where  the  ear  and  the  taste  cannot  be  satisfied." 
But  in  spite  of  all  the  faults  which  her  translation 
may  have,  she  believes  "that  no  setting  can  utterly 
mar  the  lustre  of  such  a  gem  [as  the  original], 
or  make  this  perfect  work  of  art  unwelcome  to 
the  meditative  few,  or  even  to  the  tasteful 
many.  .  .  .  The  harmony  with  which  the  plot  is 
developed,  the  nicely-adjusted  contrasts  between 
the  characters,  the  beauty  of  composition,  worthy 
the  genius  of  ancient  statuary,  must  still  be  per 
ceptible."  *  1 

In  1839  Margaret  Fuller  translated  the  first 
two  volumes  of  Eckermann's  Conversations  with 
Goethe.  This  translation  was  published  during 
the  same  year  by  George  Ripley  as  the  fourth 
volume  of  a  series  entitled  Specimens  of  Foreign 
Literature,  and  formed,  according  to  Emerson's 
account,  the  basis  of  the  translation  of  Eckermann 
since  published  in  London  by  Mr.  Oxenford.2 

As    Margaret    Fuller,    herself,    states    in    the 

*It  is  my  intention  in  the  near  future  to  write  a  criticism  of 
Margaret  Fuller's  translation  of  Goethe's  Tasso,  analyzing  and 
comparing  it  carefully  with  the  original. 

1  Art,  Literature  and  the  Drama,  pp.  355  f. 

2  Memoirs  t  I.  p.  243. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      221 

preface  to  this  work,  she  compressed  or  curtailed 
the  two  German  volumes  known  to  her  into  one 
in  English,  omitting  the  accounts  of  Goethe's 
experiments  and  theories  of  colors,  for  the  Far- 
benlehre  would  arouse  little  interest  here.  Be 
sides,  she  writes:  "I  was  glad  to  dispense  with 
them  [the  experiments  and  theories  of  color  men 
tioned  above]  because  I  have  no  clear  understand 
ing  of  the  subject,  and  could  not  have  been  secure 
of  doing  them  justice."  1 

She  left  out  also  Eckermann's  meager  account 
of  a  journey  to  Italy,  and  here  and  there  condensed 
Eckermann's  remarks;  but  only  in  a  few  rare 
instances  Goethe's.  Of  the  whole  work  she 
writes : 

"I  have  done  it  with  such  care,  that  I  feel 
confident  the  substance  of  the  work,  and  its  es 
sential  features,  will  be  found  here  .  .  .  These 
two  rules  have  been  observed, — not  to  omit  even 
such  details  as  snuffing  the  candles  and  walking  to 
the  stove  (given  by  the  good  Eckermann  with 
that  truly  German  minuteness  .  .  .)  when  they 
seem  needed  to  finish  out  the  picture,  either  of 
German  manners,  or  Goethe's  relations  to  his 

1  Conversations  with  Goethe,  Preface,  p.  xxv. 


222    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

friends  or  household."  1  The  preface  also  con 
tains  an  unusually  good  criticism  of  Goethe  (if  we 
except  one  or  two  statements)  which  has  already 
been  quoted  at  length  in  the  preceding  pages.  Be 
sides  this,  there  is  also  a  very  just  characterization 
of  Eckermann  and  his  relations  to  Goethe. 

The  book  more  than  gratified  the  highest  hopes 
that  the  translator  had  dared  to  express  for  it  in 
her  preface,  in  which,  as  Mr.  Higginson  has  said, 
she  "underrates  instead  of  overstating  the  value 
of  her  own  work."  "She  made  a  delightful  book 
of  it,"  Mr.  Higginson  continues,  "and  one  which 
.  .  .  helped  to  make  the  poet  a  familiar  person 
ality  to  English-speaking  readers.  For  one,  I 
can  say  that  it  brought  him  nearer  to  me  than 
any  other  book,  before  or  since,  has  ever  done." 
She  probably  got  no  compensation  for  it,  accord 
ing  to  Mr.  Higginson,  "beyond  the  good  practice 
for  herself  and  the  gratitude  of  others."  2  She 
undoubtedly  had  still  another  aim  in  publishing 
this  work,  perhaps  the  chief  aim,  namely,  to  make 
her  Goethe  better  known  among  her  countrymen, 
as  the  preface  clearly  indicates  throughout.  It 
doubtless  was  a  great  satisfaction  for  her  to  see 

1  Preface   to  Translation   of   Eckermann's    Conversations   with 
Goethe,  p.  xxv. 
3  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  pp.  189  f. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      223 

him  growing  in  favor  as  a  result  of«  this  effort  on 
her  part. 

In  the  language  and  expression  of  this  transla 
tion  Margaret  Fuller  follows  much  more  closely 
the  text  of  the  original  than  she  did  in  Tasso, 
as  might  naturally  be  expected  in  the  translation 
of  a  prose  work,  where  one  is  not  troubled  so 
much  with  the  form.  Though  part  of  the  trans 
lation  was  dictated  while  she  was  ill  and  did  not 
satisfy  her  as  well  as  that  which  she  wrote  with 
her  own  hand,  nevertheless,  none  of  it  is  slavishly 
done.  It  is  executed  in  much  the  same  spirit  as 
the  former  work,  and  has  all  the  force  and  beauty 
of  original  composition.  "I  have  a  confidence", 
she  says,  "that  the  translation  is,  in  the  truest 
sense,  faithful,  and  trust  that  those  who  find  the 
form  living  and  symmetrical,  will  not  be  inclined 
severely  to  censure  some  change  in  the  cut  or  make 
of  the  garment  in  which  it  is  arrayed."  * 

It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  Margaret 
Fuller  never  finished  her  Life  of  Goethe,  for 
which  she  had  gathered  so  much  material  from 
original  sources,  and  according  to  Emerson,  left 
heaps  of  manuscript.  Doubtless  with  her  insight 

1  Conversations  with  Goethe,  Preface,  p.  xxvi. 


224    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

into  the  great  poet's  life  and  character  and  her 
unusual  ability  to  comprehend  him  in  what  he  said, 
she  would  have  produced  a  work  that  would  have 
done  credit  to  her  country.  All  that  we  know  of 
her  proposed  work  is  from  references  in  her 
letters. 

The  first  reference  is  in  an  undated  letter  in 
which  she  says  while  meditating  on  the  life  of 
Goethe:  "I  thought  I  must  get  some  idea  of  the 
history  of  philosophical  opinion  in  Germany,  that 
I  might  be  able  to  judge  of  the  influences  it  exer 
cised  upon  his  mind.  I  think  I  can  comprehend 
him  every  other  way,  and  probably  interpret  him 
satisfactorily  to  others, — if  I  can  get  the  proper 
materials."  1  Again  she  writes  to  Emerson  in 
1836,  after  she  had  apparently  studied  much  and 
hard  on  the  subject  of  her  proposed  work,  and 
succeeded  in  arousing  her  mind  to  a  great  activity. 
"Am  I,  can  I  make  myself  fit  to  write  an  ac 
count  of  half  a  century  of  the  existence  of  one 
of  the  master  spirits  of  this  world?"  "I  am 
shocked  to  perceive  you  think  I  am  writing  the 
life  of  Goethe.  No,  indeed!  I  shall  need  a 
great  deal  of  preparation  before  I  shall  have  it 
clear  in  my  head.  I  have  taken  a  great  many 

1  Memoirs,  I.  127. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      225 

notes;  but  I  shall  not  begin  to  write  it,  till  it  all 
lies  mapped  out  before  me.  I  have  no  material 
for  ten  years  of  his  life."  1 

Emerson,  thinking  perhaps  Carlyle  might  be 
able  to  help  Margaret  Fuller  to  secure  the  needed 
books  on  Goethe's  life,  writes  to  him  in  September 
of  the  same  year:  "A  friend  of  mine  who  studies 
his  (Goethe's)  life  with  care  would  gladly  know 
what  records  there  are  of  his  first  ten  years  after 
his  settlement  at  Weimar  .  .  ."  Carlyle  answers: 
"As  to  Goethe  and  your  friend;  I  know  not 
anything  out  of  Goethe's  own  works  (which  have 
many  notices  in  them)  that  treats  specially  of 
those  ten  years."  Carlyle,  however,  names  a  list 
of  references  that  might  lead  to  the  proper 
sources.2 

The  next  year  (1837)  Margaret  Fuller  again 
writes:  "As  you  imagine,  the  Life  of  Goethe  is 
not  yet  written;  but  I  have  studied  and  thought 
about  it  much.  It  grows  in  my  mind  with  every 
thing  that  does  grow  there.  My  friends  in 
Europe  have  sent  me  the  needed  books  on  the 
subject,  and  I  am  now  beginning  to  work  in  good 
earnest  ...  I  may  find  myself  incompetent; 
but  I  go  on  in  hope,  secure,  at  all  events,  that  it 

1  Memoirs,  I.  128  f. 

3  Carlyle-Emerson  Correspondence,  V.,  I.  100,  109. 


226    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

will  be  the  means  of  the  highest  culture."1  A 
little  later  in  the  same  year  she  writes:  "Mr. 
Ripley, — who  is  about  publishing  a  series  of  works 
on  Foreign  Literature, — has  invited  me  to  prepare 
the  'Life  of  Goethe,'  on  very  advantageous 
terms."  2  And  in  the  first  volume  of  the  series 
spoken  of  is  announced  UA  Life  of  Goethe  in 
preparation  for  this  work,  from  original  docu 
ments."  3 

Margaret  Fuller's  family,  however,  needed  aid, 
and  she  "reluctantly  gave  up"  this  "congenial,  lit 
erary  project,"  and  accepted  an  offer  to  teach  in 
the  schools  of  Providence.4  "She  spent  much  time 
on  it,"  Emerson  writes,  "and  has  left  heaps  of 
manuscripts  which  are  notes,  transcripts  and 
studies  in  that  direction.  But  she  wanted  leisure 
and  health  to  finish  it."  5  The  only  published 
writings  of  Margaret  Fuller,  by  which  we  may 
judge  what  the  qualities  of  her  Life  of  Goethe 
would  have  been,  is  her  article  on  Goethe  in  the 
Dial,  which,  as  Emerson  says,  "is,  on  many 
accounts,  her  best  paper." 


1  Memoirs,  I.  175. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  177. 

*  Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.  189. 

*  Memoirs,  I.  177. 
B  Ibid.,  pp.  243  f. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      227 

Bettine  von  Arnim's  connection  with  Goethe 
was,  without  doubt,  what  first  attracted  Margaret 
Fuller's  attention  and  interest  to  her.  In  common 
with  many  of  her  Boston  circle,  Margaret  Fuller 
was  much  charmed  with  the  letters  that  passed 
between  the  wise  and  elderly  poet  and  the  charm 
ing,  fairy-like  girl,  bubbling  over  with  fun  and 
youthful  exuberance.  In  a  tribute  to  a  collection 
of  these  letters  in  book  form  under  the  title 
Goethe's  Correspondence  with  a  Child,  she  writes 
"The  correspondence  is  as  popular  here  as  in 
Germany."  *  Through  the  interest  awakened  by 
this  book  Margaret  Fuller's  attention  was  at 
tracted  to  the  correspondence  between  Bettine  and 
her  intimate  friend,  Giinderode,  a  canoness  in 
one  of  the  Catholic  orders,  who,  nevertheless, 
mixed  freely  with  the  outside  world.  This  cor 
respondence  Margaret  Fuller  translated  in  part 
and  published  in  1842,  under  the  title  Correspon 
dence  of  Frdulein  Giinderode  and  Bettine  von 
Arnim.  The  remainder  was  translated  by  Mrs. 
Minna  Wesselhoeft  in  1860,  after  the  death  of 
Bettine  von  Arnim,  and  published  in  one  volume 
with  Margaret  Fuller's  part. 

In  describing  the  difference  of  character  between 

lDial,  Vol.  II,  No.  I. 


228    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

the  two,  Margaret  Fuller  writes:  "I  have  been 
accustomed  to  distinguish  the  two  as  Nature  and 
Ideal.  Bettine,  hovering  from  object  to  object, 
drawing  new  tides  of  vital  energy  from  all,  living 
freshly  alike  in  man  and  tree,  loving  the  breath 
of  the  damp  earth  as  well  as  that  of  the  flower 
which  springs  from  it,  bounding  over  the  fences 
of  society  as  easily  as  over  the  fences  of  the  field, 
intoxicated  with  the  apprehension  of  each  new 
mystery,  never  hushed  into  silence  by  the  highest, 
flying  and  singing  like  a  bird,  sobbing  with  the 
hopelessness  of  an  infant,  prophetic,  yet  astonished 
at  the  fulfillment  of  each  prophesy,  restless,  fear 
less,  clinging  to  love,  yet  unwearied  in  experiment, 
— is  not  this  the  pervasive  vital  force,  cause  of 
the  effect  which  we  call  nature? 

"And  Giinderode,  in  the  soft  dignity  of  each 
look  and  gesture,  whose  lightest  word  has  the 
silvery  spiritual  clearness  of  an  angel's  lyre,  har 
monizing  all  objects  into  their  true  relations,  draw 
ing  from  every  form  of  life  its  eternal  meaning, 
checking,  reproving,  and  clarifying  all  that  was 
unworthy  by  her  sadness  at  the  possibility  of  its 
existence!  Does  she  not  meet  the  wild,  fearless 
bursts  of  the  friendly  genius,  to  measure,  to  purify, 
to  interpret,  and  thereby  to  elevate?  As  each 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      229 

word  of  Bettlne's  calls  to  enjoy  and  behold,  like 
a  breath  of  mountain  air,  so  each  of  Giinderode's 
comes  like  a  moon-beam  to  transfigure  the  land 
scape,  to  hush  the  wild  beatings  of  the  heart,  and 
dissolve  all  the  sultry  vapors  of  day  into  the  pure 
dew-drops  of  the  solemn  and  sacred  night."  l 

Speaking  of  the  interests  which  these  trans 
lations  must  awake,  Margaret  Fuller  says:  UA 
single  page  of  Bettine's  gives  some  notion  of  her 
fresh,  fragrant  and  vigorous  genius.  But  a  char 
acter  like  Giinderode's,  of  such  subtle  harmonies, 
and  soft  aerial  grace,  can  only  be  descried  through 
multiplied  traits.  She  is  a  soul  so  delicately 
apparelled,  a  woman  so  tenderly  transfigured,  that 
the  organs  made  use  of  to  observe  common  mor 
tals,  seem  to  need  refining  in  her  own  atmosphere, 
before  they  can  clearly  appreciate  her  .  .  . 

"To  those  who  have  eyes  to  see,  and  hearts  to 
understand  the  deep  leadings  of  the  two  charac 
ters,  these  pages  present  a  treasury  of  sweetest 
satisfactions,  of  lively  suggestions ; — to  the  obtuse, 
the  vulgar,  and  the  frivolous,  they  will  seem  sheer 
folly."  2 

Later,  however,  Margaret  Fuller  lost  much  of 

1  Correspondence    of    Fraulein    Giinderode    and    Bettine    von 
Arnim,  Introduction,  p.  EX. 
*  Jbia.f  pp.  vi  ff. 


230    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

her  admiration  for  Bettine's  character,  as  is  shown 
by  the  following  extract  from  one  of  her  letters: 
"Giinderode  is  the  ideal;  Bettine,  nature;  Giin- 
derode  throws  herself  into  the  river  because  the 
world  is  all  too  narrow.  Bettine  lives,  and  follows 
out  every  freakish  fancy,  till  the  enchanting  child 
degenerates  into  an  eccentric  and  undignified  old 
woman."  l 

Only  a  slight  perusal  of  this  translation  by 
Margaret  Fuller  is  necessary  to  see  how  successful 
the  translator  has  been  in  keeping  the  vivacity  and 
freshness  of  the  one  correspondent,  and  the  pe 
culiar  charm  and  grace  of  the  other  intact.  The 
easy  conversational  German  style  is  translated 
into  flowing  colloquial  English  (or  more  properly 
American)  idiom,  with  none  of  its  native  vigor 
or  freshness  lost. 

Margaret  Fuller  translated  a  number  of  short 
poems  from  Goethe,  and  a  few  from  other  authors 
whom  she  liked,  Schiller  and  Korner,  especially. 
Those  which  she  translated  from  Goethe  express 
for  the  most  part,  his  philosophical  and  religious 
views.  They  were  found  by  me  among  a  mass 

'Higginson,  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  p.    192;  Memoirs,  I.  p. 
248;  Ibid.,  II.  pp.  41,  140. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      231 

of  Margaret  Fuller's  manuscript  letters  and  papers 
which  were  deposited  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Higginson  in 
the  Boston  Public  Library,  and  appear  in  print 
here  for  the  first  time.  These  poems  with  her  com 
plete  Credo,  published  in  the  Appendix,  shed  more 
light  upon  her  religious  convictions  than  is  evident 
from  any  of  her  works  published  heretofore,  and 
are  valuable  perhaps  only  because  they  reveal  very 
clearly  the  close  relation  between  her  religious 
thinking  and  that  of  Goethe. 

EINS  UND  ALLES 

Goethe. 

Within  the  infinite  its  place  to  find, 
How  longeth  forth  the  Individual  Mind! 
Chagrin  and  grief  can  there  disturb  no  more; — 
Forgetting  all  hot  wishes,  or  wild  Will, 
Where  sounds  of  daily  duties  may  be  still, 
And  thought,  in  freedom,  float  creation  o'er. 

Soul  of  the  World!     Come  to  pervade  our  souls. 
For  with  the  idea  which  all  else  controls, 

To  live,  to  do  is  ours; 
Ye,  sympathizing  spirits!  lead  us  on 
To  Him,  the  Master  by  whom  all  is  done, 

Who  did,  who  doth  create  all  other  powers. 

To  aid  in  the  great  work,  to  recreate, 
Lest  matter,  by  resistance  grown  elate, 


232    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

A  stiff  reaction  take, 
An  ever-living  impulse  Man  must  be, 
From  shapes  and  colors  of  earth,  and  sky,  and  sea, 

A  second  world  must  make. 

Let  all  be  breathing,  acting,  moving,  living, 
Forming,  transforming,  taking,  giving. 

Only  apparent  be  one  moment's  pause. 
The  Eternal  wills  perpetual  change  in   all, — 
What  would  stand  fast,  must  soon  to  nothing  fall, 

Such  are  our  being's  laws. 

DAUER  IM  WECHSEL 

Imitated  from  Goethe. 
We  were  so  deeply  blest! 

Oh  stay,  thou  fair   May-hour! 
But  the  full  blossom  shower 
Is  scattered  by  the  balmy  West; — 
Now  I  the  tree  enjoy, 

Its  freshness  and  its  shade, — 
Soon  storms  will  be  arrayed 
Its  beauty  to  destroy. 

Hast  thou  fruit  on  thy  tree? 

Quick  take  it  from   the  bough, — 

That  which  has  ripened  now 
Thine  still  may  be; 
A  torrent's  force  today 

Thy  garden  will  assail. 

Thou  through  this  gentle  vale 
No  more  wilt  take  thy  way. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      233 

But  did  all  else  stand  fast, 
Couldst  thou  remain  the  same, — 
The  rocks,  the  tower  of  fame 

Are  not  as  in  times  past 
To  thee.     The  lips  are  pale 

Which  once  met  thine  in  love, — 

And  from  the  cliffs  above 
She  looks  not  on  the  vale. 

That  hand,  so  quick  and  mild 

Each  gentle  deed  to  do, 
That  step,  so  light  and  wild, — 

All  this  is  vanished   now! 
While  that  which  takes  her  place, 

And  is  named  by  thy  name, 
Like  waves  which  leave  no  trace, 

Is  hasting  to  the  main. 

Let  the  beginning  with   the  end, 

Harmonious  linked  in  one, 
In  thoughts  wide  current  blend, 

Ere  yet  the  whole  be  flown; 
The  objects  pass, — but  the  behest 

Of  the  immortal  muse 
Can  charm  this  Idea  to  thy  breast, 

Which  shall  new  forms  produce. 

Goethe's  poem  Ems  und  Alles,  of  which  the  first 
one  of  the  two  poems  above  is  a  translation,  is 
one  of  the  best  commentaries  of  his  religion  that 


234    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

we  have.  It  must  have  appealed  strongly  to  Mar 
garet  Fuller,  for  her  translation  is  in  a  much  more 
fervent  tone  than  the  original.  How  nearly  the 
religious  ideas  contained  in  it  coincided  with  her 
own  religious  belief  is  evident  by  comparing  them 
with  those  in  her  Credo.  Yet  that  Margaret 
Fuller  did  not  catch  the  full  meaning  of  this  poem, 
nor  of  Dauer  im  Wechsel,  is  also  evident. 

According  to  Margaret  Fuller's  version  of  the 
first  stanza  of  Ems  und  Alles,  uniting  with  the 
Infinite  means  a  forgetting,  an  obliteration  of 
one's  individuality,  a  state  almost  similar  to  that 
of  the  Buddhists'  Nirvana;  while  the  real  meaning 
of  Goethe  is  that  the  ego,  which  usually  seeks 
its  own  self  in  pleasure,  here,  on  the  contrary, 
renounces  and  completely  surrenders  itself  to  the 
All,  and  in  that  way  finds  the  fulfillment  of  its 
highest  desires  coupled  with  supreme  pleasure. 

Nor  does  her  rendering  of  the  second  stanza 
convey  Goethe's  full  meaning.  While  Margaret 
Fuller  wants  the  soul  of  the  World  to  pervade 
our  souls,  so  that  we  should  live  and  move  with 
the  world  soul,  or  in  other  words,  become  its 
instruments,  Goethe's  idea  is  that  we  should  be 
come  creative  competitors  of  the  World  Soul. 
In  this,  our  highest  mission,  we  are  aided,  accord- 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      235 

ing  to  Goethe,  by  invisible  spirits,  supreme  masters, 
who  guide  and  lead  us  to  Him  who  created  every 
thing. 

The  second  poem  Dauer  im  Wechsel,  which  she 
calls  only  "an  imitation  from  Goethe,"  is  in  a 
way  a  translation  of  a  poem  by  Goethe  of  the 
same  name.  It  interested  Margaret  Fuller  proba 
bly  for  the  same  reason  that  the  first  one  did. 
Most  of  the  stanzas  of  this  poem  she  has  trans 
lated  fairly  well ;  but  she  missed  the  fundamental 
thought  of  the  poem,  which  appears  in  the  last 
four  lines. 

Goethe  was  from  his  youth  up  vexed  by  the 
continual  change  taking  place  in  the  phenomena 
of  the  exterior  world,  as  well  as  of  his  inner  life. 
Hence  his  passionate  attempts  to  analyze  these 
changing  phenomena  in  order  to  discover,  if  pos 
sible,  the  lasting  element  behind  them.  Thus  in 
the  remarkable  poem,  Die  Freuden,  written  during 
his  Leipzig  period,  he  analyzes  the  ever-changing 
colors  of  the  dragon-fly  in  an  attempt  to  get  at 
the  secret  of  its  beauty,  but,  disappointed,  ends 
with  the  painful  outcry :  "So  geht  es  dir  Zerglie- 
derer  deiner  Freuden."  *  A  similar  outcry  of 
grief  and  disappointment  over  the  fleeting  nature 

*  "Thus  it  fares  with  you,  dissector  of  your  joys." 


236    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

of  love  appears  in  the  poem  Das  Gliick  of  the 
same  period: 

"Was  hilft  es  mir,  dass  ich  geniesse? 
Wie  Traume  fliehn  die  warmsten  Kiisse, 
Und  alle  Freude  wie  ein  Kuss."* 

In  the  poem  Dauer  im  Wechsel  we  find  the  same 
analyzing  of  the  phenomena  of  the  exterior  and 
inner  world,  but  it  is  an  analyzing  which  finally 
reaches  the  result  for  which  Goethe  had  always 
searched  and  which  he  expressed  in  the  lines : 

"Danke,  dass  die  Gunst  der  Musen 
Unvergangliches  verheisst : 
Den  Gehalt  in  deinem  Busen 
Und  die  Form  in  deinem  Geist."* 

The  meaning  clearly  is,  that  it  is  the  inner  world 
that  is  imperishable,  the  world  which  the  poet 
creates  for  himself  and  for  us  from  the  elements 
of  bare  reality.  These  four  lines  of  verse  Mar 
garet  Fuller  translates:  "The  objects  pass, — 

*What  good  is  it  to  me  that  I  enjoy? 

Like  dreams  the  warmest  kisses  flee, 

And  all  joy  like  a  kiss." 
**  Be  thankful  that  the  favor  of  the  Muses 
Promises  the  imperishable: 
The  contents  within  your  bosom 
And  form  within  your  spirit. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      237 

but  the  behest,  etc.,"  clearly  drawing  the  conclu 
sion,  that  in  spite  of  all  this  change,  the  promises 
or  behest  of  the  immortal  muse  comforted  or 
"charmed"  us  by  the  thought  that  new  forms  are 
produced  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  ones,  which 
are  gradually  changing  and  passing  away, — 
clearly  an  altogether  different  thought. 

Margaret  Fuller  doubtless  shows  her  limitations 
here  and  there  in  comprehending  Goethe's  full 
meaning;  yet  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  often 
astounded  at  her  power  of  grasping  Goethe's 
deepest  thoughts.  This  is  especially  the  case  in 
her  interpretation  of  Prometheus  which  she  trans 
lated  and  sent  to  a  friend,  and  which  expresses 
the  relation  between  man  and  the  Infinite.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  poem  The  God-like, 
partly  translated  by  Margaret  Fuller,  in  her  first 
article  on  Goethe  in  the  Dial,  and  republished  in 
Life  Without  and  Life  Within* 

The  other  poems  translated  from  Goethe,  The 
Consolers,  Eagles  and  Doves,  and  Epilogue  to  the 
Tragedy  of  Essex,  all  express  a  genuine  depth  of 
feeling,  usually  of  grief.  In  the  first  two  the 
heart  is  consoled  by  some,  happy  thought  or  reflec 
tion  in  the  end;  but  not  in  the  last  named.  Here, 

*Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  pp.  18  f. 


238     MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

the  queen  (Elizabeth)  desires  to  be  left  alone  to 
give  vent  to  her  tears  for  Lord  Essex,  whom  she 
loves,  but  whom  she  has  had  to  condemn  to  die 
for  treason. 

The  technique  of  the  poems  above  is  not  uni 
form.  By  comparing  the  first,  Eins  und  Allest 
with  the  original  we  see  that  the  lines  are  generally 
lengthened  by  a  foot  of  two  syllables.  The  poetic 
picture,  too,  is  sometimes  changed,  and  here  and 
there  some  of  the  expressions  seem  forced.  The 
meter,  also,  could  be  improved  in  some  places. 
The  second  poem,  Dauer  im  Wechsel,  reads  some 
what  more  smoothly;  yet  it  falls  far  short  of  the 
beauty  of  the  original.  After  a  careful  study  and 
analysis  of  these  two  poems,  one  feels  extremely 
doubtful  as  to  whether  Margaret  Fuller  ever 
intended  them  for  publication  at  all.  If  she  had, 
she  doubtless  would  have  polished  them  up  con 
siderably.  What  she  probably  did  was  to  make 
a  rapid  translation  of  these  and  other  poems  that 
appealed  to  her  most  strongly  in  order  to  send 
them,  as  she  did  Prometheus,  to  some  friend  who 
may  not  have  had  such  a  ready  command  of  Ger 
man  as  she.  In  nearly  every  case,  however,  she 
remained  true  to  the  general  thought  and  spirit  of 
the  original. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      239 

The  poems  which  have  been  published  are  trans 
lated  with  more  care  and  skill.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  last  named,  the  Epilogue  to  the  Trag 
edy  of  Essex,  which  is  indeed  well  translated, 
artistic,  and  powerful.  The  poems,  The  Consoler, 
and  Eagles  and  Doves,  are  also  very  well  trans 
lated,  and  are  very  interesting  when  considered 
from  the  relation  they  bear  to  Margaret  Fuller's 
inner  life. 

That  which  is,  however,  of  most  importance  to 
us  in  these  poems  is  not  as  to  how  skillfully  and 
artistically  they  have  been  translated,  but  rather 
why  they  appealed  to  Margaret  Fuller,  in  fact, 
became  a  part  of  her,  and  how  she  understood 
them  and  interpreted  them  to  her  friends.  Only 
when  judged  from  this  standpoint,  when  con 
sidered  as  vehicles  of  thought,  do  they  become  im 
portant. 

Of  course,  Goethe's  works  are  mentioned  again 
and  again  throughout  her  works.  She  uses  illus 
trations,  passages,  and  ideas  from  them  contin 
ually,  but  so  far  as  the  interpretation  of  Goethe's 
characters  and  philosophical  doctrines  are  con 
cerned,  they  remain  substantially  the  same 
with  her  throughout.  If  anything,  their  impres 
sion  deepens  and  grows  clearer  to  her  as  time 


240    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

goes  on.  It  is  true  Margaret  Fuller  was  much 
indebted  to  Carlyle.  She  ordered  his  works  for 
her  library  as  soon  as  they  were  published,  and 
read  them  with  the  greatest  interest,  often  even 
making  them  the  topic  of  discussion  in  her  letters 
to  Emerson.  There  is  also  a  striking  similarity 
between  many  of  her  deepest  thoughts  on  the  great 
German  writers  and  those  of  Carlyle.  Doubtless 
some  of  these  thoughts  and  much  of  her  inspira 
tion  for  German  had  their  origin  in  Carlyle's 
works.  Yet  we  cannot  but  feel  when  we  read  her 
letters  and  criticism  of  Goethe's  works  that  by 
far  the  larger  portion  of  her  deep  feeling  for  the 
great  German  poet,  and  therefore  the  thoughts 
resulting  from  them,  were  inspired  directly  by 
Goethe's  works,  and  were,  in  this  respect,  at  first 
hand,  and  therefore  original.  That  she  main 
tained  an  independence  of  feeling  is  clear  from  the 
preceding  pages  on  her  study  of  German.  More 
than  this,  she  even  differs  from  Carlyle  quite  often, 
and  now  and  then  even  vigorously  attacks  some  of 
his  views. * 

In  judging  her  criticism  and  her  interpretations 
of  Goethe  we  see  that  they  compare  very  favor 
ably  with  the  best  criticisms  of  today — three- 

1  See  for  example,  Memoirs,  I.  262  f. 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  GOETHE      241 

quarters  of  a  century  later.  But  only  then  can 
we  do  Margaret  Fuller  justice  when  we  consider 
her  time  and  place  and  compare  her  criticisms  of 
these  German  writers  with  those  of  the  best 
literary  critics  then  in  America,  and  see  her  vast 
superiority  over  them  all, — only  then  can  we 
appreciate  what  her  influence  and  criticisms  meant 
in  the  way  of  a  proper  understanding  and  appre 
ciation  of  Goethe  in  America. 


CONCLUSION 

We  have  seen  the  powerful  influence  of  Goethe 
upon  Margaret  Fuller;  how,  through  an  intense 
study  of  his  life  and  works,  she  developed  her 
inner  life  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  ripened  into 
the  extraordinary  personality  which  her  contem 
poraries  conceded  her  to  be.  We  have  seen  how 
she  accepted  Goethe's  religious  and  philosophical 
teachings  almost  in  their  entirety,  though  she  did 
not  relinquish  certain  Puritan  convictions.  While 
we  found  that  she  agreed  with  the  Transcendental- 
ists,  inasmuch  as  she,  as  well  as  they,  strove  after 
a  higher,  freer,  and  nobler  humanity,  we  also 
discovered  how  radically  she  differed  from  them  in 
her  fundamental  religious  and  philosophical  be 
liefs,  and  the  methods  by  which  she  hoped  to 
arrive  at  the  goal  at  which  they  both  aimed. 
There  remains  but  a  few  words  to  be  said  concern 
ing  the  influences  she  exerted  for  the  study  of 
German  in  America,  hitherto  not  mentioned. 

Margaret  Fuller  herself  felt  that,  by  the  year 
1846,  her  efforts  to  arouse  a  healthy  interest  for 
German  had  met  with  a  considerable  degree  of 

242 


CONCLUSION  243 

success,  for  she  writes:  "I  feel  with  satisfaction 
that  I  have  done  a  good  deal  to  extend  the  influ 
ence  of  the  great  minds  of  Germany  and  Italy 
among  my  compatriots."  *  She  had  thus  realized 
the  sincere  wish  expressed  a  decade  before,  when 
she  so  earnestly  desired  to  interpret,  in  some 
periodical,  the  German  authors  whose  writings 
she  liked  best.2 

Besides  her  efforts  to  stimulate  an  interest  in 
German  by  means  of  her  printed  articles,  she 
translated  (1836-37)  for  Dr.  William  Ellery 
Channing,  the  apostle  of  the  Unitarian  church, 
and  discussed  with  him  the  works  of  Herder  and 
De  Wette.  The  effect  upon  him  must  have  been 
considerable,  for  we  find  a  number  of  the  thoughts 
of  these  German  thinkers  incorporated  into  the 
doctrines  of  the  Unitarian  church.  In  the  schools 
where  Margaret  Fuller  taught,  her  favorite  sub 
ject  was  German.  If  we  but  look  at  the  long  list  of 
German  works  which  she  read  through  with  her 
classes  we  may  judge  what  interest  for  German  she 
must  have  inspired  in  her  pupils.  One  of  the  most 
telling  influences  which  she  exerted  for  German, 
however,  was  through  her  "Conversations"  in 
the  cultured  circles  of  Boston.  Here,  Mr.  Clarke 

1  Memoirs,  I.  168. 

2  Introd.  to  Papers  on  Literature  and  Art,  p.  vii. 


244    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

says,  she  "dazzled  all  who  knew  her",  and  every 
body  who  heard  her,  including  Emerson,  agreed 
that  her  power  was  most  remarkable.  She  in 
spired  in  these  meetings,  "the  Spirit  which  giveth 
life",  according  to  one  of  the  reporters  of  the 
"Conversations";  "she  seemed  a  priestess  of  the 
youth  ...  a  companion".  She  was  even  called 
a  "sibyl",  a  "prophetess",  and  Emerson  says,  she 
was  sent  to  "announce  a  better  day",  and  "had 

the   power   to   inspire", "the   companion  was 

made  a  thinker".  *  Margaret  Fuller,  herself,  says : 
"All  were  in  a  glow."  If  we  add  to  this  what  Mrs. 
Ball  has  written,  namely,  that  thoughts  and  illus 
trations  from  Goethe  were  brought  in  continually, 
and  that  now  and  then  Goethe  was  even  made  a 
subject  for  a  whole  evening's  discussion,  we  see 
what  an  influence  the  "Conversations"  must  have 
had  toward  making  Goethe  better  known  and 
more  widely  read  in  America.  Moreover,  the 
whole  glowing  account  of  the  "Conversations" 
shows  that,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  Marga 
ret  Fuller  followed  out,  in  developing  the  inner 
lives  of  the  members  of  her  classes,  precisely  the 
suggestions  which  she  found  in  the  works  of 
Goethe. 

1  Memoirs,  I.  78;  349;  316;  311  f. 


CONCLUSION  245 

How  far  Margaret  Fuller's  influence  went  in 
the  proper  understanding  and  appreciation  of 
Goethe  in  America  we  shall  never  be  quite  able 
to  tell.  This  much  we  know,  that  all  her  associates, 
who,  as  we  have  seen,  included  the  brightest  and 
most  original  minds  in  New  England,  became, 
with  few  exceptions,  diligent  and  enthusiastic  stu 
dents  of  German,  and  of  Goethe  especially.  The 
German  scholars  connected  with  Harvard  college 
in  one  way  or  another, — Charles  Pollen,  George 
Ticknor,  Edward  Everett,  F.  H.  Hedge,  J.  F. 
Clarke,  and  others — without  doubt  did  much  in 
arousing  a  lively  interest  in  the  study  of  German 
in  America.  Carlyle  and  Coleridge,  from  across 
the  sea,  had  a  powerful  influence  for  Goethe 
and  German  studies  in  general,  especially  upon 
such  men  as  Emerson  and  W.  E.  Channing.  Yet 
after  considering  and  weighing  all  these  influences, 
and  giving  each  of  these  scholars,  writers,  and 
teachers  his  just  dues,  there  is  still  no  doubt  that 
one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  opening  up  for 
America  "the  rich  gardens  of  German  literature'1 
— to  use  Rev.  W.  H.  Channing's  expression — was 
Margaret  Fuller.  How  many  of  her  countrymen 
enjoyed  and  relished  the  precious  fruits  they  found 
there  is  shown  by  the  zeal  with  which  this  whole 


246    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

literary  circle  studied  German,  and  by  the  demand 
that  this  growing  interest  soon  created  for  German 
in  the  colleges.  German  has  held  its  own  in  this 
country  ever  since,  and  the  great  names  of  German 
literature  are  known  in  every  educated  circle  in 
America. 

Though  the  tendency  of  all  criticism  of  the 
present  is  to  avoid,  whenever  possible,  the  super 
lative  degree,  yet  it  does  not  seem  altogether  un 
fitting,  in  passing  an  estimation  upon  Margaret 
Fuller's  influence,  to  quote  in  conclusion  a  passage 
from  James  Freeman  Clarke,  who,  of  all  her 
biographers,  certainly  knew  her  and  understood 
her  best.  "Margaret  was,"  he  writes  in  the 
Memoirs,  uto  persons  younger  than  herself,  a 
Macaria  and  Natalia.  She  was  wisdom  and  intel 
lectual  beauty.  .  .  .  To  those  of  her  own  age, 
she  was  a  sibyl  and  seer, — a  prophetess,  revealing 
the  future,  pointing  the  path,  opening  their  eyes  to 
the  great  aims  only  worthy  of  pursuit  in  life.  To 
those  older  than  herself  she  was  like  the  Eupho- 
rion  in  Goethe's  drama,  child  of  Faust  and  Helen, 
— a  wonderful  union  of  exuberance  and  judgment, 
born  of  romantic  fulness  and  classic  limitations."  * 

1  Memoirs,  I.  97. 


APPENDIX 

MARGARET  FULLER'S  RELIGIOUS  CREED 

In  the  following  pages  is  published  for  the  first 
time  Margaret  Fuller's  religious  creed  of  1842 
in  its  complete  form,  just  as  it  stands  in  her  own 
handwriting  among  her  other  manuscripts  dona 
ted  to  the  Boston  Public  Library,  by  Mr.  T.  W. 
Higginson,  one  of  Margaret  Fuller's  friends  and 
biographers.  The  creed  contained  originally  two 
and  one  half  lines  more,  but  these  have  been  com 
pletely  obliterated  and  blotted  out  with  ink  in  the 
same  manner  as  parts  of  many  of  her  letters,  pre 
sumably  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  the 
contents.  Those  parts  of  the  Credo  which  have 
been  published  before  in  Margaret  Fuller's 
Memoirs^  are  full  of  interpolations  and  omissions. 
Many  of  the  words  are  changed  and  sometimes 
whole  sentences  are  re-written  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  original  thought  is  often  very  much 
obscured.  The  creed,  as  it  stands  complete,  by  no 
means  presumes  to  be  a  comprehensive  formula 
tion  of  her  entire  religious  and  philosophical 

1  Memoirs,   II.    88  ff. 
247 


248     MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

belief,  as  any  one  will  soon  discover  in  reading 
her  works.  The  following  note  by  Margaret 
Fuller,  which  was  sent  to  a  friend  with  the  Credo 
shows  how  she  herself  considered  it.  uEver  since 

told  me  how  his  feelings  had  changed  towards 

Jesus,  I  have  wished  much  to  write  some  sort  of  a 
Credo,  out  of  my  present  state,  but  have  had  no 
time  till  last  night.  I  have  not  satisfied  myself  in 
the  least,  and  have  written  very  hastily,  yet, 
though  not  full  enough  to  be  true,  this  statement 
is  nowhere  false  to  me."  x 


A  CREDO. 

There  is  a  spirit  uncontainable  and  uncontained. — 
Within  it  all  manifestation  is  contained,  whether  of  good 
(accomplishment)  or  evil  (obstruction).  To  itself  its 
depths  are  unknown.  By  living  it  seeks  to  know  itself, 
thus  evolving  plants,  animals,  men,  suns,  stars,  angels, 
and,  it  is  to  be  presumed  an  infinity  of  forms  not  yet 
visible  in  the  horizon  of  this  being  who  now  writes. 

Its  modes  of  operation  are  twofold.  First,  as  genius 
inspires  genius,  love  love,  angel-mother  brings  forth  angel- 
child.  This  is  the  uninterrupted  generation,  or  publica 
tion  of  spirit  taking  upon  itself  congenial  forms.  Second, 
conquering  obstruction,  finding  the  like  in  the  unlike. 

1  Memoirs,  II.   88. 


MARGARET  FULLER'S  CREDO         249 

This  is  a  secondary  generation,  a  new  dynasty,  as  virtue 
for  simplicity,  faith  for  oneness,  charity  for  pure  love. 

Then  begins  the  genesis  of  man,  as  through  his  con 
sciousness  he  attests  the  laws  which  regulated  the  divine 
genesis.  The  Father  is  justified  in  the  Son. 

The  mind  of  man  asks  'Why  was  this  second  develop 
ment? — Why  seeks  the  divine  to  exchange  best  for  better, 
bliss  for  hope,  domesticity  for  knowledge?'  We  reject 
the  plan  in  the  universe  which  the  Spirit  permitted  as  the 
condition  of  conscious  life.  We  reject  it  in  the  childhood 
of  the  soul's  life.  The  cry  of  infancy  is  why  should  we 
seek  God  when  He  is  always  there,  why  seek  what  is  ours 
as  soul's  through  indefinite  pilgrimages,  and  burdensome 
cultures  ? 

The  intellect  has  no  answer  to  this  question,  yet  as  we 
through  faith  and  purity  of  deed  enter  into  the  nature 
of  the  Divine  it  is  answered  from  our  own  experience. 
We  understand,  though  we  cannot  explain  the  mystery 
of  something  gained  where  all  already  is. 

God,  we  say,  is  Love.  If  we  believe  this  we  must 
trust  Him.  Whatever  has  been  permitted  by  the  law  of 
being  must  be  for  good,  and  only  in  time  not  good.  We 
do  trust  Him  and  are  led  forward  by  experience.  Sight 
gives  experience  of  outward  life,  faith  of  inward.  We 
then  discern,  however  faintly,  the  necessary  harmony  of 
the  two  lives.  The  moment  we  have  broken  through 
an  obstruction,  not  accidentally,  but  by  the  aid  of  faith, 
we  begin  to  realize  why  any  was  permitted.  We  begin 
to  interpret  the  universe  and  deeper  depths  are  opened 
with  each  soul  that  is  convinced.  For  it  would  seem  that 


250    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

the  Divine  expressed  His  meaning  to  Himself  more 
distinctly  in  man  than  in  the  other  forms  of  our  sphere, 
and  through  him  uttered  distinctly  the  Hallelujah  which 
the  other  forms  of  nature  only  intimate. 

Wherever  man  remains  imbedded  in  nature,  whether 
from  sensuality  or  because  he  is  not  yet  awakened  to 
consciousness,  the  purpose  of  the  whole  remains  unful 
filled,  hence  our  displeasure  when  man  is  not  in  a  sense 
above  nature.  Yet  when  he  is  not  bound  so  closely  with 
all  other  manifestations,  as  duly  to  express  their  spirit, 
we  are  also  displeased.  He  must  be  at  once  the  highest 
form  of  nature  and  conscious  of  the  meaning  she  has  been 
striving  successively  to  unfold  through  those  below  him. 

Centuries  pass, — whole  races  of  men  are  expended  in 
the  effort  to  produce  one  that  shall  realize  this  idea  and 
publish  spirit  in  the  human  form.  But  here  and  there 
there  is  a  degree  of  success.  Life  enough  is  lived  through 
a  man  to  justify  the  great  difficulties  and  obstructions 
attendant  on  the  existence  of  mankind. 

Then  through  all  the  realms  of  thought  vibrates  the 
affirmation  'This  is  my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased,'  and  many  souls  encouraged  and  instructed  offer 
themselves  to  the  baptism,  whether  of  water,  whether  of 
fire. 

I  do  not  mean  to  lay  an  undue  stress  upon  the  position 
and  office  of  man,  merely  because  I  am  of  his  race,  and 
understand  best  the  scope  of  his  destiny.  The  history  of 
the  earth,  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  suggest 
already  modes  of  being  higher  than  his,  and  which  fulfill 
more  deeply  this  office  of  interpretation.  But  I  do  sup- 


MARGARET  FULLER'S  CREDO         251 

pose  his  life  to  be  the  rivet  in  one  series  of  links  in  the 
great  chain,  and  that  all  these  higher  existences  are  anal 
ogous  to  his.  Music  suggests  them,  and  when  carried 
on  these  strong  wings  through  realms  which  on  the  ground 
we  discern  but  dimly,  we  foresee  how  the  next  step  in 
the  soul's  upward  course  shall  interpret  man  to  the  uni 
verse  as  he  now  interprets  those  forms  beneath  himself; 
for  there  is  ever  evolving  a  consciousness  of  consciousness, 
and  a  soul  of  the  soul.  To  know  is  to  bring  to  light  some 
what  yet  to  be  known.  And  as  we  elucidate  the  previous 
workings  of  spirit,  we  ourselves  become  a  new  material 
for  its  development. 

Man  is  himself  one  tree  in  the  garden  of  the  spirit. 
From  his  trunk  grow  many  branches,  social  contracts, 
art,  literature,  religion,  etc.  The  trunk  gives  the  history 
of  the  human  race.  It  has  grown  up  higher  into  the 
heavens,  but  its  several  acorns,  though  each  expressed 
the  all,  did  not  ripen  beyond  certain  contours  and  a  cer 
tain  size. 

In  the  history  of  matter,  however,  laws  have  been  more 
and  more  clearly  discerned,  and  so  in  the  history  of  spirit, 
many  features  of  the  God-man  have  put  forth;  several 
limbs,  disengaged  themselves.  One  is  what  men  call 
revelation,  different  from  other  kinds  only  in  being  made 
through  the  acts  and  words  of  men.  Its  law  is  identical 
whether  displaying  itself  as  genius  or  piety,  but  its  modes 
of  expression  are  distinct  dialects  though  of  similar 
structure. 

The  way  it  is  done  is  this.  As  the  Oak  desires  to  plant 
its  acorns,  so  do  souls  become  the  fathers  of  souls.  Some 


252    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

do  this  through  the  body,  others  through  the  intellect. 
The  first  class  are  citizens;  the  second  artists,  philoso 
phers,  lawgivers,  poets,  saints, — All  these  are  anointed, 
all  Immanuel,  all  Messiah,  so  far  as  they  are  true  to  the 
law  of  their  incorruptible  existence;  brutes  and  devils 
so  far  as  they  are  subjected  to  that  of  their  corruptible 
existence. 

But  yet  further,  as  wherever  there  is  a  tendency,  a 
form  is  gradually  evolved  as  its  type;  as  the  rose  repre 
sents  the  flower  world  and  is  its  queen,  as  the  lion  and 
eagle  compress  within  themselves  the  noblest  that  is  ex 
pressed  in  the  animal  kingdom,  as  the  telescope  and 
microscope  express  the  high  and  searching  desires  of  man ; 

and  the  organ  and  ( )*  his  completeness,  so  has 

each  tribe  of  thoughts  and  lives  its  law  upon  it  to  pro 
duce  a  king,  a  form  which  shall  stand  before  it  a  visible 
representation  of  the  aim  of  its  strivings.  It  gave  laws 
with  Confucius  and  Moses;  it  tried  them  with  Brahma, 
it  lived  its  life  of  eloquence  in  the  Apollo,  it  wandered 
with  Osiris.  It  lived  one  life  as  Plato,  another  as 
Michael  Angelo,  or  Luther.  It  has  made  Gods,  it  has 
developed  men.  Seeking,  making  it  produce  ideals  of  the 
developments  of  which  humanity  is  capable,  and  one  of 
the  highest,  nay  in  some  respects  the  very  highest  it  has 
yet  known  was  the  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

I  suppose  few  are  so  much  believers  in  his  history  as 
myself.  I  believe  (in  my  own  way)  in  the  long  prepara 
tion  of  ages,  and  the  truth  of  the  prophecy.  I  see  a 
necessity  in  the  character  of  Jesus  why  Abraham  should 

*Word  illegible. 


MARGARET  FULLER'S  CREDO         253 

be  the  founder  of  his  nation,  Moses  its  lawgiver,  and 
David  its  king  and  poet.  I  believe  in  the  genesis,  as  given 
in  the  Old  Testament.  I  believe  in  the  prophets,  and 
that  they  foreknew,  not  only  what  their  nation  required, 
but  what  the  development  of  universal  man  required,  a 
Redeemer,  an  Atoner,  one  to  make,  at  the  due  crisis, 
voluntarily  the  sacrifice  Abraham  would  have  made  of 
the  child  of  his  old  age,  a  lamb  of  God,  taking  away  the 
sins  of  the  world.  I  believe  Jesus  came  when  the  time 
was  ripe,  that  he  was  peculiarly  a  messenger  and  son  of 
God,  I  have  nothing  to  say  in  denial  (of)  the  story  of 
his  birth.  Whatever  the  true  circumstances  were  in 
time  he  was  born  of  a  virgin,  and  the  tale  expresses  a 
truth  of  the  soul.  I  have  no  objection  to  the  miracles,  ex 
cept  where  they  do  not  happen  to  please  me.  Why  should 
not  a  soul  so  consecrate  and  intent  develop  new  laws  and 
make  matter  plastic?  I  can  imagine  him  walking  the 
waves  and  raising  the  dead  without  any  violation  of  my 
usual  habits  of  thought.  He  would  not  remain  in  the 
tomb,  they  say,  surely  not;  death  is  impossible  to  such  a 
being.  He  remained  upon  earth  and  all  who  have  met 
him  since  on  the  way  have  felt  their  souls  burn  within 
them.  He  ascended  to  Heaven,  surely,  it  could  not  be 
otherwise. 

But  when  I  say  to  you,  also,  that  though  I  think  all 
this  really  happened,  it  is  of  no  consequence  to  me  whether 
it  did  or  not,  that  the  ideal  truth  such  illustrations  present 
to  me,  is  enough,  and  that  if  the  mind  of  St.  John,  for 
instance,  had  conceived  the  whole  and  offered  it  to  us 
as  a  poem,  to  me,  as  far  as  I  know,  it  would  be  just  as 


254    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

real.  You  see  how  wide  the  gulf  that  separates  me  from 
the  Christian  Church. 

Yet  you  also  see  that  I  believe  in  the  history  of  the 
Jewish  nation  and  its  denouement  in  Christ,  as  presenting 
one  great  type  of  spiritual  existence.  It  is  very  dear  to 
me  and  occupies  a  large  portion  of  my  thoughts.  I  have 
no  trouble,  so  far  from  the  sacrifice  required  of  Abraham, 
for  instance,  striking  me  as  it  does  Mr.  Parker,  I  accept 
it  as  prefiguring  a  thought  to  be  fully  expressed  by  the 
death  of  Christ  (yet  forget  not  that  they  who  passed 
their  children  through  the  fire  to  Moloch  were  pious  also, 
and  not  more  superstitious  than  an  exclusive  devotion 
to  Christ  has  made  many  of  his  followers).  Do  you 
not  place  Christ  then  in  a  higher  place  than  Socrates,  for 
instance,  or  Michael  Angelo?  Yes!  Because  if  his  life  was 
not  truer,  it  was  deeper,  and  he  is  a  representative  of  the 
ages.  But  then  I  consider  the  Greek  Apollo  as  one  also! 

Have  men  erred  in  following  Christ  as  a  leader?  Per 
haps  rarely.  So  great  a  soul  must  make  its  mark  for 
many  centuries.  Yet  only  when  men  are  freed  from  him, 
and  interpret  him  by  the  freedom  of  their  own  souls, 
open  to  visits  of  the  Great  Spirit  from  every  side  can  he 
be  known  as  he  is. 

'With  your  view  do  you  not  think  He  placed  undue  em 
phasis  on  his  own  position?' 

In  expression  he  did  so,  but  this  is  not  in  my  way 
either,  I  should  like  to  treat  of  this  separately  in  another 
letter. 

Where  he  was  human,  not  humanly-divine,  and  where 
men  so  received  him,  there  was  failure,  and  is  mist  and 


MARGARET  FULLER'S  CREDO         255 

sect, — but  never  where  he  brought  them  to  the  Father. 
But  they  knew  not  what  they  did  with  him  then  and  do 
not  now. 

For  myself,  I  believe  in  Christ  because  I  can  do  without 
him;  because  the  truth  he  announces  I  see  elsewhere 
intimated;  because  it  is  foreshadowed  in  the  very  nature 
of  my  own  being.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  do  without  him. 
He  is  constantly  aiding  and  answering  me.  Only  I 
will  not  lay  any  undue  and  exclusive  emphasis  on  him. 
When  he  comes  to  me  I  will  receive  him;  when  I  feel 
inclined  to  go  by  myself,  I  will.  I  do  not  reject  the 
church  either.  Let  men  who  can  with  sincerity  live  in 
it.  I  would  not — for  I  believe  far  more  widely  than 
any  body  of  men  I  know.  And  as  nowhere  I  worship 
less  than  in  the  places  set  apart  for  that  purpose,  I  will 
not  seem  to  do  so.  The  blue  sky  seen  above  the  opposite 
roof  preaches  better  than  any  brother,  because,  at  present, 
a  freer,  simpler  medium  of  religion.  When  great  souls 
arise  again  that  dare  to  be  entirely  free,  yet  are  humble, 
gentle,  and  patient,  I  will  listen,  if  they  wish  to  speak. 
But  that  time  is  not  nigh;  these  I  see  around  me,  here 
and  in  Europe,  are  mostly  weak  and  young. 

Would  I  could  myself  say  with  some  depth  what  I  feel 
as  to  religion  in  my  very  soul.  It  would  be  a  clear  note 
of  calm  security.  But  for  the  present,  I  think  you  will 
see  how  it  is  with  me  as  to  Christ. 

I  am  grateful  here,  as  everywhere,  where  spirit  bears 
fruit  in  fulness.  It  attests  the  justice  of  my  desires;  it 
kindles  my  faith;  it  rebukes  my  sloth;  it  enlightens  my 
resolve.  But  so  does  the  Apollo,  and  the  beautiful  infant, 


256    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

and  the  summer's  earliest  rose.  It  is  only  one  modifi 
cation  of  the  same  harmony.  Jesus  breaks  through  the 
soil  of  the  world's  life,  like  some  great  river  through 
the  else  inaccessible  plains  and  valleys.  I  bless  its  course. 
I  follow  it.  But  it  is  a  part  of  the  All.  There  is  nothing 
peculiar  about  it,  but  its  form. 

I  will  not  loathe  sects,  persuasions,  systems,  though  I 
cannot  abide  in  them  one  moment.  I  see  most  men  are 
still  in  need  of  them.  To  them  their  banners,  their 
tents;  let  them  be  Platonists,  Fire-worshippers,  Christians; 
let  them  live  in  the  shadow  of  the  past  revelations.  But 
Oh  Father  of  our  souls,  I  seek  thee.  I  seek  thee  in 
these  forms;  and  in  proportion  as  they  reveal  thee  more, 
they  lead  me  beyond  themselves.  I  would  learn  from 
them  all,  looking  to  thee.  I  set  no  limits  from  the  past 
to  my  soul  or  any  soul.  Countless  ages  may  not  produce 
another  worthy  to  loose  the  shoes  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ; 
yet  there  will  surely  come  another  manifestation  of  that 
Word  that  was  in  the  beginning.  For  it  is  not  dead,  but 
sleepeth;  and  if  it  lives,  must  declare  itself. 

All  future  manifestations  will  come,  like  this, — not 
to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets  but  to  fulfill.  But 
as  an  Abraham  called  for  a  Moses,  a  Moses  for  a  David, 
so  does  Christ  for  another  ideal.*  .  . 

We  want  a  life  more  complete  and  various  than  that 
of  Christ.  We  have  had  the  Messiah  to  reconcile  and 
teach,  let  us  have  another  to  live  out  all  the  symbolical 
forms  of  human  life  with  the  calm  beauty  and  physical 

*Two  and  one-half  lines  are  blotted  out  and  obliterated  here, 
so  as  to  make  it  totally  illegible. 


MARGARET  FULLER'S  CREDO         257 

fulness  of  a  Greek  god,  with  the  deep  consciousness  of  a 
Moses,  with  the  holy  love  and  purity  of  Jesus.  Amen! 
Addenda. 

I  have  not  shown  with  any  distinctness  how  the  very 
greatness  of  the  manifestation  in  Jesus  calls  for  a  greater. 
But  this  as  the  extreme  emphasis  given  by  himself  to  his 
office,  should  be  treated  of  separately  in  a  letter  or  essay 
on  the  processes  of  genius  in  declaring  itself. 

I  have  not  shown  my  deep  feeling  of  his  life  as  a 
genuine  growth,  so  that  his  words  are  all  living  and 
they  come  exactly  to  memory  with  all  the  tone  and  gesture 
of  the  moment,  true  runes  of  a  divine  oracle.  It  is  the 
same  with  Shakespeare  and  in  a  less  degree  with  Dante. 

I  have  not  spoken  of  men  clinging  to  him  from  the 
same  weakness  that  makes  them  so  dependent  on  a  priest 
hood,  or  makes  idols  of  the  objects  of  affection.  In  him 
hearts  seek  the  Friend;  minds  the  Guide.  But  this  is 
weakness  in  religion,  as  elsewhere.  No  prop  will  do. 
'The  soul  must  do  its  own  immortal  work',  and  books, 
lovers,  friends,  meditations  fly  from  us  only  to  return, 
when  we  can  do  without  them.  But  when  we  can  use 
and  learn  from  them,  yet  feel  able  to  do  without  them 
they  will  depart  no  more.  If  I  were  to  preach  on  this 
subject  I  would  take  for  a  text  the  words  of  Jesus: 

'Nevertheless,  I  tell  you  the  truth.  It  is  expedient  for 
you  that  I  go  away;  for  if  I  go  not,  the  Comforter  will 
not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto 
you.'1 

1  Margaret  Fuller  MSS.  in  Boston  Public  Library.  Summer 
of  1842. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  bibliography  does  not  include 
many  of  the  histories  and  general  reference  books 
of  literature  and  philosophy  consulted  in  the  pur 
suit  of  this  study,  such,  for  example,  as  those  of 
Kant,  Goethe,  American  literature,  etc.  For  an 
excellent  bibliography  of  important  works  and 
magazine  articles  concerning  Margaret  Fuller  (up 
to  the  year  1884)  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
Bibliographical  Appendix  in  T.  W.  Higginson's 
Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli  (pp.  315  ff.). 

WORKS  OF  MARGARET  FULLER. 

Eckermann's  Conversations  with  Goethe.  Translated 
from  the  German.  Boston,  1839. 

Correspondence  of  Fraulein  G  under  ode  and  Bettine  von 
Arnim  [Translated  from  the  German].  Boston, 
1842.  Reprinted,  with  additional  letters  trans 
lated  by  Mrs.  Minna  Wesselhoeft.  Boston, 
1861. 

Summer  on  the  Lakes.     Boston,  1843. 

Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.     New  York,  1844. 

Literature  and  Art.     New  York,  1846,  1852. 

Collected  Works,  with  an  introduction  by  Horace 

259 


26o    MARGARET  FULLER  AND  GOETHE 

Greeley,  and  edited  by  Margaret  Fuller's  brother, 
Arthur  B.  Fuller.     Four  Volumes.     New  York, 


At  Home  and  Abroad,  or  Things  and  Thoughts  in 
America  and  Europe,  containing  Summer  on  the 
Lakes,  her  letters  from  Europe,  and  a  description 
of  her  homeward  voyage,  shipwreck  and  death. 
Woman   in   the  Nineteenth    Century    and    Kindred 
Papers    relating    to    the    Sphere,    Condition    and 
Duties  of  Woman. 
Life  Without  and  Life  Within,  A  collection  of  re 

views  and  poems. 

Art,  Literature,  and  the  Drama,  containing  a  reprint 
of  Literature  and  Art  and  a  translation  of  Goethe's 
Tasso. 

The  Dial,  in  *wo  volumes.    Boston,  1840-44. 
Love  Letters,  1845-1846,  with  an  introduction  by  Julia 

Ward  Howe.     New  York,  1903. 
Margaret  and  Her  Friends,  or  Ten  Conversations  with 

Margaret  Fuller.     Boston,   1895. 
Margaret  Fuller  Manuscripts.     Boston  Public  Library, 


BIOGRAPHIES   OF    MARGARET    FULLER,    REFERENCE 
BOOKS,  ETC. 

Memoirs  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  by  R.  W.  Emerson, 
W.  H.  Channing,  and  J.  F.  Clarke.  Two 
Volumes.  Boston,  1852. 

Margaret  Fuller  (Marchesa  Ossoli),  in  Famous  Women 
series,  by  Julia  Ward  Howe.  Boston,  1883. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  261 

Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  in  American  Men  of  Letters 
series,  by  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson.  Bos 
ton,  1884. 

Reminiscences  of  Ednah  Dow  Cheney.     Boston,  1902. 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  Autobiography,  Diary  and  Cor 
respondence,  edited  by  Edward  Everett  Hale. 
Boston  and  New  York,  1891. 

Memoirs  of  a  Hundred  Years,  by  Edward  Everett  Hale. 
New  York,  1902. 

Studies  in  New  England  Transcendentalism,  by  Harold 
Clarke  Goddard.  New  York,  1908. 

Transcendentalism  in  New  England,  A  History,  by 
Octavius  Brooks  Frothingham.  New  York,  1876. 

Brook  Farm;  Its  Members,  Scholars,  and  Visitors,  by 
Lindsay  Swift.  New  York,  1900. 

A  History  of  Literature  in  America,  by  Barrett  Wendell, 
and  Chester  Noyes  Greenough.  New  York,  1907. 

A  History  of  American  Literature,  1607-1865,  by  Wil 
liam  P.  Trent.  New  York,  1903. 


INDEX 


Alcott,  A,  Bronson,  3,  5; 
estimation  of  Margaret 
Fuller's  power  to  enrich  our 
literature,  6. 

Alexandrians,    The,    78. 

Alfieri,  52. 

Amalia,  the  Grand  Duchess, 
Goethe's  benefactress,  57, 
208. 

Ariosto,  52,  159. 

Austin,  Sarah,  58. 

Bettine  von  Arnim  (Brentano), 
Margaret  Fuller's  transla 
tion  of  Correspondence  of 
Frdulein  Gilnderode  and 
Bettine  von  Arnim,  227-230; 
Margaret  Fuller's  admira 
tion  for,  228-229,  23°- 

Brook  Farm,  129-132. 

Brown,  ,  Margaret  Fuller 

studies  his  Philosophy,  30. 

Brown,  Charles  Brockden,  12. 

Buhle,  ,  History  of  Phi 
losophy,  read  by  Margaret 
Fuller,  50. 

Byron,   180. 

Caesar,  28. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  his  impres 
sion  of  Margaret  Fuller,  n; 
writings  arouse  interest  of 
Margaret  Fuller  in  German, 
42 ;  friendly  attitude  toward 
Goethe,  150-151;  Margaret 
Fuller's  indebtedness  to,  240; 


aids  Margaret  Fuller  in 
securing  material  for  her 
proposer  Life  of  Goethe, 
22$;  other  references,  58,  78, 
172,  245. 

Cervantes,  28. 

Channing,  Dr.  W.  E.,  Mar 
garet  Fuller's  tribute  to  his 
preaching,  30;  she  translates 
and  discusses  Herder  and 
De  Wette  with,  50,  243; 
245. 

Channing,  W.  H.,  a  member 
of  "Transcendental  Club", 
3 ;  Margaret  Fuller's  tribute 
to  his  preaching,  36;  her 
great  personal  influence  on 
him  and  others,  8,  18,  117, 
137,  245 ;  gives  definition 
and  characteristics  of  Tran 
scendentalism,  78,  82,  115, 
116,  118,  119,  121,  124. 

Cheney,  Edna  Dow,  testimony 
concerning  character  and 
power  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
"Conversations",  120;  Mar 
garet  Fuller's  religion,  146- 
147. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman, 
Goethe's  influence  on,  46,  61- 
62,  85;  Margaret  Fuller's 
close  personal  relations  with, 
6-7,  46-48;  both  attracted  to 
German  literature  at  same 


263 


264 


INDEX 


time,  42;  his  assistance  in 
her  study  of  German,  44,  46- 
47;  writes  of  her  German 
studies  and  development  of 
inner  life,  47-48,  72;  of  her 
character  and  religious  life, 
43,  144,  71-72,  85-86,  147; 
of  her  power  to  inspire 
ambition  and  draw  out  indi 
viduality,  7-8,  69,  244,  246; 
other  references,  3,  18,  36, 
45,  245. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  61,  78,  218, 
245. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  12. 

Cousin,  V.,  78. 

Credo  of  1842,  Margaret 
Fuller's  in  full,  347-357; 
references  to,  36,  89,  90; 
Goethe's  doctrine  of  "Spirit- 
Nature"  in,  94-98,  105,  145, 
234;  interpolations  and  omis 
sions  in  Credo  as  published 
in  Memoirs,  247-248. 

Creizenach,  Theodore,  empha 
sizes  Goethe  as  liberator,  60, 
61. 

Dall,  Caroline  H.,  100,  137, 
244. 

Dante,  52. 

De  Wette,  W.  M.  L.,  50,  78, 

243- 
Dial,    Margaret    Fuller    editor 

of,  5,  113;  character  of,  114, 
115;  its  importance,  4-5; 
Emerson's  definition  of 
Transcendentalism  in,  75 ; 
John  A.  Saxton's  article 
"  Prophecy-T  ranscendent- 
alism-Progress",  77 ;  refer 


ences  to  passages  from,  12. 
15,  106,  151 ;  references  to 
passages  from  Margaret 
Fuller's  criticism  of  Goethe 
and  his  works,  154,  176,  181, 
182,  183,  196;  other  refer 
ences,  17,  68,  73,  103. 

Eckermann,  J.  P.,  20,  67 ;  his 
Conversations  'with  Goethe 
translated  by  Margaret 
Fuller,  220-223. 

Eichhorn,  J.  G.,  50. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  3,  5,  15; 
defines  Transcendentalism, 
75;  characterizes  Dial,  113; 
with  Carlyle  aids  Margaret 
Fuller  in  her  proposed 
Life  of  Goethe,  224-225 ; 
gives  Goethe  as  source  of 
Margaret  Fuller's  person 
ality,  52-53;  effects  of  his 
preaching  upon  her,  36,  134- 
135;  her  influence  on  him, 
8-10,  244;  studies  Goethe  at 
solicitation  of  Carlyle,  151, 
245 ;  his  Puritan  feeling 
against  Goethe,  136,  149- 
*53;  I57"I58;  difference  be 
tween  his  temperament,  reli 
gion,  and  philosophy  and 
Margaret  Fuller's,  54,  134- 
143 ;  references  to  Margaret 
Fuller's  studies  and  develop 
ment,  31,  52-53,  68-69;  to 
her  belief  in  daemonology, 
107-108;  to  her  character 
and  personality,  18,  101-102, 
144;  to  her  religion,  147. 

Epictetus,  31. 

Everett,  Edward,  44,  245. 


INDEX 


265 


Farrar,  Professor  John,  50. 
Felton,   Professor  at  Harvard, 

59- 

Fichte,  J.  G.,  50,  78. 

Follen,  Dr.  Charles,  teacher  of 
German  and  ethics  in  Har 
vard,  44;  his  influence  on 
Margaret  Fuller  in  study  of 
German ;  44,  45,  46,  49 ;  245. 

Fourier,  his  doctrine  of  char 
acter-building  criticised  and 
compared  with  Goethe's  by 
Margaret  Fuller,  129-132. 

Fuller,  Arthur  B.,  defends 
Margaret  Fuller's  and  his 
father  against  criticism  of 
Margaret,  24  {footnote}. 

Fuller,  Edith  D.,  niece  of  Mar 
garet  Fuller,  letter  quoted, 
45- 

Fuller,  Margaret  (Crane), 
mother  of  Margaret  Fuller, 
character  of,  21,  22. 

Fuller,  Sarah  Margaret 
(Ossoli),  biographical  sketch, 
list  and  dates  of  her  publica 
tions,  20-21 ;  manuscripts, 
230-231,  247;  her  influence 
on  American  literature  under 
estimated,  v-vi ;  leader  in 
movement  to  free  and 
deepen  American  literature, 
r,  3-6;  editor  of  Dial,  4, 
114;  its  importance  in  Amer 
ican  literature,  4-5;  she  dis 
closes  weakness  in  American 
literature  and  suggests  reme 
dies,  i,  12-17;  estimate  of 
her  power  as  a  literary 
critic:  by  Higginson,  5-6; 
by  Alcott,  6;  by  Greeley,  6; 
Carlyle's  estimation  of,  n; 
influence  upon  Channing, 


Clarke,  Emerson,  and  other 
noted  men,  6-10,  243-244, 
246;  leader  in  Boston  "Con 
versations",  4,  117-121,  243- 
244;  brings  Americans  to 
appreciation  of  German 
literature,  2,  66,  67,  242-246; 
unjust  criticism  against,  17, 
18;  her  early  education,  19- 
40;  her  father  her  first  but 
severe  teacher,  20,  23,  24; 
character  of  parents  and  in 
herited  traits,  21-25,  33 ;  her 
studies,  23,  30-31;  Greek 
and  Roman  ideals,  27-28 ; 
evil  effects  of  overstudy  and 
living  in  books,  24-25,  29; 
little  read  in  Shakespeare, 
31;  barrenness  of  inner  life, 
26-27,  29,  39;  attends 
School  of  Dr.  Park  in  Bos 
ton,  29 ;  at  Groton  in  Girls' 
school  of  the  Misses  Prescott, 
29-30;  idealizes  an  English 
friend,  26;  strict  religious 
bringing-up,  23,  33;  attitude 
toward  orthodox  church, 
32-36,  89-90;  premature  de 
velopment  of  mind  to  neglect 
of  other  powers,  24,  25,  39; 
a  longing  for  an  inner  life, 
23,  24,  26,  29,  37-39;  study 
of  German,  4,  42 ;  power  of 
comprehension,  43 ;  scope 
and  intensity  of  her  German 
studies,  42,  48-53,  66  (foot 
note')  ;  advantage  in  moving 
in  Harvard  circles,  43,  44; 
p;reat  scholars  who  assisted 
her:  Follen,  Hedge,  Clarke, 
44-47;  inner  life  quickened, 
transformed  by  German 
studies,  47-48;  52-53,  62-70; 


266 


INDEX 


"pupil"  of  Goethe,  52,  63- 
64,  66;  passionate  love  for 
beautiful,  47;  how  different 
German  writers  impress  and 
affect  her,  49-53 ;  interest  in 
German  composers,  51 ;  a 
residue  of  Puritanism  in  her 
nature ;  effect  upon  her  criti 
cisms,  54-56,  149;  supremacy 
and  permanency  of  Goethe's 
influence  on  her,  56-59,  67- 
69 ;  its  character,  59-60,  62, 
159-162;  desires  to  publish 
articles  on  German  writers, 
66-67  a  strong  harmoni 
ously  developed  personality, 
68-70,  143,  242,  246;  in 
fluence  of  Goethe  upon  her 
religious  and  philosophical 
thinking,  71  ff.,  242 ;  desire 
to  grow,  37,  71-72;  "Ger- 
manico"  and  not  Transcen 
dental,  72-73 ;  reasons  for 
wrong  classification,  73-74; 
advocate  of  Goethe-Schiller 
doctrine  of  harmonious  unity 
of  character,  82;  self-de 
velopment  from  within  out 
wards  through  experience, 
19,  85-89,  143,  146;  seeks  to 
be  active,  thoughtful,  natural 
woman,  102;  the  spirit  of 
Faust,  87-88 ;  unorthodox, 
89-90;  man's  mission  to  be 
free  and  a  creator  with  God, 
90-91;  93-94;  Goethe's  doc 
trine  of  "Spirit-Nature"  in 
Credo,  94-98;  good  mission 
of  evil,  98-101;  abandon 
ment  to  higher  nature,  101 ; 
mission  of  poetry,  102;  of 
art,  103,  104;  eternal  pro 
gression,  105-106 ;  daemon- 


ology,  107  113;  though  editor 
of  Dial  does  not  consider  her 
self  or  it  transcendental,  114- 
115;  her  relations  to  "Tran 
scendental  Club",  115;  aim 
and  character  of  her  "talks", 
117-121,  243-244;  sees  differ 
ence  between  her  views  and 
Transcendental,  121,  128, 
also  73 ;  her  criticism  of 
Transcendentalism,  122-128 ; 
accepts  limitations  of  man, 
passions  to  be  brought  into 
sympathy  with  higher  nature, 
not  killed,  126-127;  her 
criticism  of  Fourier  and 
Brook  Farm  scheme  and  pref 
erence  of  Goethe's  doctrine, 
129-132;  speculative  philo 
sophy  not  congenial  for  her, 
132-133;  difference  between 
her  and  Emerson's  tempera 
ments  and  teaching,  134-143; 
Emerson's  influence  on  her, 
134-135;  "white  light"  vs. 
"glow  of  action",  137-138, 
140-142;  her  Goethean  real 
ism,  divinity  of  human 
nature,  144,  147;  natural  re 
ligion,  her  power  to  call  out 
inner  life  of  others,  145-147; 
a  defender  of  Goethe's  works 
and  doctrines,  148-149,  154- 
173 ;  her  fitness  to  become 
Goethe's  critic,  174-176,  240; 
her  historical  attitude  in 
criticisms,  165,  172-173 ;  see 
also  5-6,  ii ;  prejudices  and 
influences  to  overcome,  148- 
153;  critic  and  interpreter  of 
Goethe's  works,  174-216; 
her  limitations,  234-239 ; 


INDEX 


267 


criticism  and  interpretation 
of  Faust,  175-182,  209;  of 
Wilhelm  Meister,  131-132, 
182-191,  210-214;  of 
Werther,  191-195,  198;  of 
Tasso,  57,  195-198,  220;  of 
Egmont,  198;  of  Goto  von 
Berlichingen,  198;  of  the 
Elective  Affinities,  58,  198- 
205;  of  Iphigenie,  58,  198, 
205-207,  210;  of  Entsagung, 
215;  of  Prometheus,  94,  215, 
237;  lyric  poetry,  63-64,  102- 
103,  216;  characters  of 
women  from  Goethe's  works 
as  ideals  of  womanhood, 
207-216;  her  translations 
from  Goethe,  216-239; 
Tasso,  217-220;  her  theory 
as  to  content  and  form  in 
translations,  218-220;  Ecker- 
mann's  Conversations  with 
Goethe,  67,  220-223  ;  proposed 
Life  of  Goethe,  67,  223-226; 
Correspondence  of  Fraiilein 
Giinderode  and  Bettine  von 
Arnim,  227-230 ;  her  admira 
tion  of  these  women,  228- 
229,  230;  shorter  poems,  230- 
239:  Bins  und  Alles,  231- 
232,  233-234;  Dauer  im 
Weeks  el,  232-233,  234,  235- 
237;  Prometheus,  237,  238; 
The  Godlike,  167-168,  237; 
The  Consolers,  237,  239; 
Eagles  and  Doves,  237,  239; 
Epilogue  to  the  Tragedy  of 
Essex,  237,  239;  quality,  aim 
and  importance  of  these 
translations,  238-239;  in 
debtedness  to  Carlyle,  240; 
independence  of  feeling^  240, 
342;  worth  of  her  criticisms, 


173,  240-241 ;  extent  of  her 
influence  in  furthering  the 
study  of  German  in  America, 
222,  242-246 ;  translates 
Herder  and  De  Wette  for 
Dr.  W.  E.  Channing,  243; 
her  personal  influence,  243- 
246;  a  Macaria,  Natalia, 
and  Euphorion,  246;  her  re 
ligious  Credo  of  1842  in 
full,  247-257. 

Fuller,  Timothy,  father  of 
Margaret  Fuller,  his  char 
acteristics,  20-21,  23,  24; 
scholarship,  21 ;  Margaret's 
first  and  severest  teacher,  ao- 
25 ;  his  religious  rigorism, 
23>  33-34;  characteristics  in 
herited  from  him  by  Mar 
garet  Fuller,  22,  23. 

Goddard,   Dr.   H.   C.,    55,   72, 

75,    134- 

Goebel,  Julius,  60,  100. 

Goethe,  quoted  as  "the  pivotal 
mind  in  modern  literature", 
"apostle  of  individual  cul 
ture",  2 ;  Margaret  Fuller's 
great  second  schoolmaster, 
40;  she  forms  acquaintance 
of,  41,  42;  the  impulae  to 
freer,  larger  life  for  J.  F. 
Clarke  and  associates,  46, 
61-62,  85;  Margaret  Fuller's 
inner  life  transformed  by 
study  of,  47,  48,  52,  53,  62- 
70;  inborn  residue  of  Puri 
tanism  affects  her  criticism 
of,  54-56;  supremacy  and 
permanency  of  Goethe's  in 
fluence  on  her,  56-59,  67-69; 
character  of  Goethe's  in 
fluence,  59-60,  62;  liberator 
of  the  ego,  60-62;  influence 


268 


INDEX 


upon  Margaret  Fuller's  reli 
gious  and  philosophical 
thinking,  71  ff.,  242;  Goe 
the-Schiller  doctrine  of  unity 
of  character,  79-85;  char 
acter-building  through  ex 
perience  in  life,  86-87;  doc- 
trine  of  man's  mission  to  be 
free  and  a  creator  with  God, 
9°~93  >  "Spirit-Nature"  doc 
trine,  94-98  ;  evil  a  power  for 
good,  99-101;  eternal  pro 
gression,  106-107  >  Margaret 
Fuller's  enthusiasm  for  art 
inspired  by  Goethe,  103; 
daemonology :  quotations  from 
Goethe,  108,  111-112;  Mar 
garet  Fuller  an  advocate  of 
his  realism  and  doctrine  of 
character-building  "from 
within  outwards",  145-147 ; 
Emerson  and  Goethe,  136,139, 
140,  141,  143,  144,  Emerson's 
rigorous  attitude  towards, 
149-153 1  studies  Goethe  at 
friendly  solicitation  of  Car- 
lyle,  150-151;  Longfellow's 
antagonism  towards,  149, 
153;  religious  prejudice  of 
public  against,  153,  156,  175, 
199-200;  Menzel's  harsh 
view  of,  162,  166,  168;  Mar 
garet  Fuller's  defense  of, 
148-149,  154-173;  her  fitness 
to  become  his  critic,  174-176; 
her  historical  attitude  in 
criticism  of,  165,  172-173 ; 
Margaret  Fuller's  interpreta 
tion  of  Goethe's  works,  174- 
216 ;  of  Faust,  176-182,  209 ; 
of  Wilhelm  Meister,  131-132, 
182-191,  210-214;  of 
Werther,  191-195,  198;  of 


Tasso,  57,  195-198,  220;  of 
Egmont,  198 ;  of  Gotz  von 
Berlichinge;.,  198;  of  The 
Elective  Affinities,  58,  198- 
205;  of  Iphigenie,  58,  198, 
205-207,  210;  of  Entsagung, 
215;  of  Prometheus,  94,  215, 
237;  lyric  poetry,  63-64,  102- 
103,  216;  characters  of 
women  from  Goethe's  works 
as  ideals  of  womanhood, 
207-216;  Margaret  Fuller's 
translations  of  Goethe's 
works,  216-239;  Tasso,  217- 
220;  Eckermann's  Conversa 
tions  with  Goethe,  67,  220- 
223 ;  her  proposed  Life  of 
Goethe,  67,  223-226 ;  shorter 
poems,  230-239:  Ems  und 
A  lies,  231-232,  233-234; 
Dauer  im  Wechsel,  232-233, 
234>  235'237>  Prometheus, 
-,37,  238;  The  Godlike,  167- 
168,  237;  The  Consolers,  237, 
239;  Eagles  and  Doves,  237, 
239;  Epilogue  to  the  Tragedy 
of  Essex,  237,  239;  other 
references,  16,  39,  49,  51, 
102,  103,  105,  125,  126,  134, 
227;  Die  Freuden,  235; 
value  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
criticisms  of,  173,  240-241, 
242-243 ;  extent  of  Margaret 
Fuller's  influence  in  intro 
ducing  Goethe  to  her  country 
men,  222,  244-245. 
Greeley,  Horace,  estimation  of 
Margaret  Fuller  as  a  woman, 
6,  18,  102;  of  her  ability  to 
enrich  our  literature,  6;  of 
the  qualities  of  Emerson's 
part  of  Margaret  Fuller's 
biography,  9. 


INDEX 


269 


Giinderode,  Caroline  von,  Mar 
garet  Fuller's  translation  of 
Correspondence  of  Frdulein 
Giinderode  and  Bettine  von 
Arnim,  227-230;  Margaret 
Fuller's  admiration  for,  228- 
229,  230. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  v,  46, 
61. 

Hawthorne,    Nathaniel,    18. 

Hedge,  Frederick  H.,  3,  245, 
an  esteemed  friend  of  Mar 
garet  Fuller,  45 ;  assists  her 
in  study  of  German,  44,  45- 
46 ;  writes  of  intensity  of 
Margaret  Fuller's  study  of 
German,  47 ;  of  the  qualities 
of  her  criticism  of  Goethe, 

173- 

Hegel,  G.  F.  W.,  78,  172. 

Heine,   Heinrich,   50. 

Herder,  J.  G.,  41,  50,  56,  99, 
192,  243. 

Herschel,  F.  W.,  50. 

Higginson,  T.  W.,  writes  of 
Margaret  Fuller  as  a  force 
in  American  literature,  v,  4, 
5-6 ;  of  importance  of  Dial, 
4-5;  8,  17;  of  character  of 
Margaret  Fuller's  parents, 
22,  25 ;  letter  quoted,  45 ; 
underestimates  influence  of 
Goethe  on  Margaret  Fuller, 
53-54;  his  definition  of 
Transcendentalism  inade 
quate,  73-74;  pays  high  com 
pliment  to  effectiveness  of 
Margaret  Fuller's  transla 
tion  of  Eckerrnann's  Conver 
sations  with  Goethe,  222; 
manuscripts  of  Margaret 
Fuller's  letters,  papers,  poems, 
and  complete  religious  Credo 


of  1842  deposited  by  him  in 
Boston   Public   Library,  230- 

233,  247- 

Hildebrand,  Rudolph,  discus 
sion  of  Goethe  as  a  liberator, 
60-61. 

Horace,   28. 

Howe,  Julia  Ward,  description 
of  the  orthodox  churchman, 
32;  of  Margaret's  traits  and 
character,  39,  72,  144;  char 
acteristics  of  Transcendental 
ism,  99,  121 ;  difference  in 
"natural  tendency",  between 
Margaret  Fuller  and  Emer 
son,  138. 

Irving,  Washington,   12,   74. 

Jacobi,  F.  H.,  50,  78,  166. 

Jahn,   F.  L.,   50. 

Jameson,    Mrs.    Anna,    58. 

Kant,  Immanuel,  75,  76,  77,  78, 
79,  80. 

Karl  August,  Duke  of  Weimar, 

IIO,     112,    150. 

Korner,  K.  T.,  42,  49,  230. 

Lessing,  G.  E.,  49,  52. 

Locke,  John,  31,  61. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  his 
prophecy  as  to  future  char 
acter  of  American  literature, 
13,  14;  his  antagonism  to 
Goethe,  153. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  carica 
tures  Margaret  Fuller  as 
"Miranda"  in  Fable  for 
Critics,  1 8. 

Luther,   Martin,   180. 

Manzoni,  52. 

Menzel,  Wolfgang,  Margaret 
Fuller  defends  Goethe 
against  his  criticisms,  59, 
162-172. 

Merck,   J.   H.,   192.    - 


270 


INDEX 


Milton,  John,  31,  159,  180. 

Moliere,    28. 

Napoleon,  112. 

Novalis  (Hardenberg,  F.  L. 
von),  Margaret  Fuller  reads 
his  works,  42,  52;  her  ad 
miration  for  his  writings,  49, 

165;  78,  133- 

Park,  Dr.,  Margaret  Fuller  at 
tends  his  school,  29. 

Parker,   Theodore,    3,    5,    50. 

Peabody,  Elizabeth  P.,  3,   138. 

Perkins,  Mr.,  Margaret  Fuller 
attends  his  school,  30. 

Petrarca,   52. 

Plato,  78. 

Plutarch,  78. 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  18,  74. 

Prescott,  The  Misses,  2,  9. 

Puritanism,  Margaret  Fuller's 
Puritan  home  and  surround 
ings,  21,  23,  32-33,  153  ;  effect 
upon  Margaret  Fuller,  54, 
56,  135,  149,  242;  her  dissent 
with,  33-35,  36,  39,  88-89, 
242;  difference  between  P. 
and  Goethe-Schiller  doctrine 
of  the  harmonious  unity  of 
character,  79-80,  100-101, 
126,  175,  199;  element  of  P. 
in  Transcendentalism,  79, 
175;  P.  in  Emerson,  150,  135, 
136,  143- 

Racine,  31. 

Richter,  Jean  Paul,  Margaret 
Fuller  reads,  42,  52;  her 
great  admiration  for,  50,  165. 

Ripley,    George,    3. 

Rousseau,   107,   129. 

Russell,  Tour  in  Germany,  31, 
41. 

Sand,  George,  101. 

Saxton,    John    A.,     article     in 


Dial,  "Prophecy-Transcen 
dentalism-Progress",  76. 

Schelling,  F.  W.  J.,  78. 

Schiller,  Margaret  Fuller 
learns  of  and  reads,  41,  42; 
her  great  admiration  for,  51- 
52,  165,  230;  Goethe-Schiller 
doctrine  of  harmonious  unity 
of  character,  79-85,  126; 
Ueber  Naive  und  Sentimen- 
tale  Dichtung,  126 ;  other 
references,  i,  159,  194. 

Schlegels,  The  (A.  W.  and 
F.),  1 66. 

Schleiermacher,    F.    E.    D.,   78. 

Seneca,   78. 

Shakespeare,  28,  159;  Mar 
garet  Fuller  not  allowed  to 
read  his  works  on  Sunday, 
33 ;  Margaret  Fuller  little 
read  in,  31. 

Sismondi,  30. 

Spinoza,  B.,  50. 

Stael,  Madame  de,  31,  78; 
works  aid  Margaret  Fuller 
in  making  acquaintance  of 
German,  41 ;  Margaret 
Fuller's  admiration  for,  41. 

Tasso,  52,  107,  159,  197. 

Tennemann,  History  of  Philo 
sophy  read  by  Margaret 
Fuller,  53. 

Thoreau,  H.  D.,  4,  5. 

Ticknor,   George,   44,   245. 

Tieck,  J.  L.,  42,  49,  50,  52. 

Transcendental  Club,  members 
of,  3;  character  of,  115-116; 
Margaret  Fuller's  connec 
tion  with,  3,  4,  12;  reform 
and  deepening  of  American 
literature  by,  12,  15-17. 

Transcendentalism,  Emerson's 
and  other  definitions  of,  75- 


INDEX 


271 


79;  Higginson's  definition 
inadequate,  73-74;  Margaret 
Fuller  not  Transcendental, 
but  "Germanico",  73 ;  Mar 
garet  Fuller  wrongly  classed 
as  Transcendental,  72-73, 
101,  121,  126,  128,  132,  143, 
144-146,  242;  her  criticism 
of,  123-128 ;  comparison  of, 
with  Goethe's  doctrine  of 
character-building,  79-85, 
101,  126,  129-130,  143,  175; 
rigorism  and  asceticism  of 
Puritanism  in,  54,  79,  175; 
Fourier,  Brook  Farm  and, 


128-130,  132;  characteristics 
of,  117,  118-119,  I2I>  I23- 
128,  132,  144. 

Uhland,  J.  L.,   50. 

Unitarianism,  relation  to 
Transcendentalism,  78 ;  char 
acteristics  in  which  Mar 
garet  Fuller  differed  with, 
J43»  J75  j  doctrines  of  Herder 
and  De  Wette  incorporated 
in,  243^ 

Wallenstein,   107. 

Wieland,  C.  M.,  56. 

Zelter,  K.  F.,  108. 


VITA. 

The  writer  was  born  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl 
vania,  March  28,  1874.  A  part  of  his  college 
preparatory  courses  were  pursued  in  the  Col 
umbia  Missouri  Normal  Academy,  and  a  part 
in  the  University  of  Missouri.  In  1898  he  en 
tered  the  Freshman  class  of  the  University  of 
Missouri  and  graduated  from  that  institution 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1902. 
The  following  two  years  he  was  Principal  of 
the  Hermann  Missouri  High  School,  and  a 
member  of  the  Gasconade  County  Missouri 
Board  of  Education.  In  1904  he  entered  the 
Harvard  Graduate  School,  where  for  three 
years  (1904-1905,  1906-1908)  he  pursued  gradu 
ate  studies  in  German,  faking  his  Master's  de 
gree  in  1907,  and  doing  besides  the  larger  part 
of  his  work  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philo 
sophy.  In  1908  he  was  elected  a  University  Fel 
low  in  German  in  the  Graduate  School  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  where  he  received  his 
Doctor's  degree  in  1909.  He  was  chosen  a  pro 
fessor  in  Missouri  Valley  College  for  the  year 
1905-1906  and  taught  German  and  English. 
Since  1909  he  has  been  Instructor  in  German  in 
the  State  University  of  Iowa. 


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